


Forgive Or Forget

by FlamingIvory



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Post-Endgame, Post-Pacifist Route, Spoilers - Pacifist Route
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-01
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2018-05-23 23:11:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 47,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6133387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlamingIvory/pseuds/FlamingIvory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat its mistakes;</i>
  <br/>
  <i>Those who never let go of the past are doomed to wallow in its tragedies."</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A New Life, As Usual

**Author's Note:**

> Part 1: Forget   
> 
> 
>   * Chapters 1 - 6 (Completed)
> 

> 
>   
>  Part 2: Forgive    
> 
> 
>   * Chapter 7-8 (Completed)
>   * Chapter 9 (In Progress)
> 


“Frisk...you’re...you’re going to do a great job, okay? No matter what you do. Everyone will be there for you, okay?”

His head turned from side to side. A thick veil of darkness surrounded him. Those kind words from his friend rang through his head as he slowly gathered his bearings. Where was he?

“Well, my time is running out...goodbye.”

The young prince was nowhere to be seen. Nothing could be seen, for that matter. He tried to move around, but he couldn’t. The darkness seemed to absorb his voice as called out for someone, anyone to answer him. The air was warm, yet there was no sign of sunlight. 

“By the way. Frisk...take care of Mom and Dad for me, okay?”

As his friend’s voice disappeared, he suddenly felt weightless. The black around him began to melt away until he was completely enveloped in light.

And then he woke up.

\-- 

Cracks of sunlight pierced the darkness in the room. The faint sound of a rooster could be heard as the sun slowly rose above the peak of Mt. Ebott, its golden glow signaling the start of another day. The light beams intensified as they slowly made their way to the bed’s occupant. 

It was a beautiful day outside. The birds began hunting to feed their young and a sea of flower petals unfurled to catch the sun’s rays. On days like these, kids like Frisk could be found playing outside with their friends. But as he slowly awakened, it dawned on him.

It was a school day.

“Wake up, my child!” cried a muffled voice. “We don’t want to be late!” 

A stifled groan arose from the bed sheets, and a messy, mop-haired head slowly emerged. His arm shielded his eyes as he mustered the strength to pry himself from the comfort of his bed. Despite the beauty of the mountain range towering behind the neighborhood, the last thing Frisk wanted to do was directly face the sunlight. His feet met the plush carpet, and he made his way to the door, opening his eyes just enough to see himself in the mirror, dressed in his favorite striped PJs.

The door slowly opened, and the smell of fresh, hot toast motivated Frisk towards the kitchen, along with the calls from his adoptive mother. “Quickly, Frisk, before your meal becomes cold!” she said. His bare feet slowly shuffled forward, leading him down the hallway into the living room, trying not to go blind from the beams of sunlight coming through the large front window.

Footsteps approached him as he pulled his arm away from his face. Toriel emerged from the kitchen, giving him a warm smile, which he returned weakly as he extended his arms towards his loving mother. Removing her oven mitts, she knelt down for an encouraging morning hug. Her hands felt warm on his back. 

_She must have just finished making breakfast,_ he thought.

“Good morning, my child!” Toriel said. “Hopefully you had a good night’s sleep. Today looks like it’s shaping out to be a wonderful end of the week! Come, let’s eat quickly before we are both late for school.”

They sat down at the wooden table. The smell of toast was now accompanied by other delicious aromas, including scrambled eggs, biscuits and a snail omelette, a recipe which Toriel had come up with herself. Admittedly, it was an acquired taste; however, after living under Toriel’s care for several months, Frisk was used to it.

The rest of Frisk's morning routine went on as fast as his body woke up with him. After changing into his favorite striped shirt and matching casual shorts, he was finally ready to face the day. Toriel had taken off her cooking apron and was wearing her traditional Delta Rune royal garb, much to his surprise. 

“It’s been quite a while since I’ve worn this, hasn’t it?” she remarked. “But considering what we’ll be talking about in class today, I decided it would be appropriate.” 

Frisk nodded. His backpack rested on his shoulders as Toriel grabbed her reading glasses and a stack of books. After double checking they had everything, the duo headed out of the house, ready to end their week of work and enjoy the weekend ahead. 

\-- 

The school was located just outside of the suburban area, about a 15-20 minute walk for Frisk and Toriel. They didn’t mind the journey though, as it gave them the opportunity to get physically get ready for the day while enjoying small talk with their neighbors. Since Toriel was a teacher, Frisk had the chance to enjoy some conversation with his friends along the way.

The school building itself was rather large, capable of holding about 1,500 elementary students. It was two stories high and served as an impressive architectural landmark compared to the smaller suburban homes that surrounded it. As Frisk and Toriel entered, hundreds of students and faculty, both monsters and humans, were either running towards their classrooms or hanging out in the main foyer. A cacophony of different conversations surrounded them as they stepped through the wooden double doors. 

Frisk had his first class with Toriel, so they headed towards the second floor. Along the way, teachers greeted Toriel and shared small talk while Frisk greeted his friends and shared new jokes they had come up with the day prior. Admittedly, having his mother as a teacher had made him the butt end of many jokes when he first made friends. As time went on though, they got used to it, so most conversation involved complaining about the homework their teachers assigned them instead. 

“So Frisk, what’s your mom gonna drone on about today?” one boy asked. 

“Monster/human interactions,” said Frisk, a slight tone of irritation in his voice. 

“Oh man, that sounds really interesting,” one of his friends remarked. 

“Definitely. I wonder how much she’ll be able to cover today. There’s a lot to talk about with that, after all,” said another. 

“Ugh, don’t remind us. She loves to go on and on about anything she talks about. I can’t imagine having to live with that. No offense, Frisk,” said one girl, whose attention quickly returned back to a text conversation she was having.

Frisk sighed and turned his attention to his mother, who was laughing along with some other monster teachers. Many of his human friends didn’t find Toriel quite as engaging as him or his monster friends did, and while he spent an equal amount of time with both humans and monsters at school, it was discouraging to hear their snide remarks. 

Before any more complaints could be vocalized, the shrill sound of the bell pierced everyone ears, signaling the start of the school day. The students and faculty in the foyer quickly gathered their things and ran to where they needed to be. Frisk waded through the sea of humans and monsters towards his classroom, sitting down in his seat just seconds before the bell rang a second time. Relief washed over him as he sunk into his chair. Now he remembered why Toriel encouraged him to hurry in the morning. 

As the rest of the class eventually settled down into their seats, Toriel stood up in front. “Good morning, class! Happy Friday! I’m very happy to see that everyone is here today, because we’re going to be going over a subject that I’ve wanted to talk about since the beginning of the year: human/monster interactions.”

Frisk looked around. His entire class was made up of human students. Many of them pulled out a pen and paper to take notes on the lecture, with some rolling their eyes, expecting a long first period. Others looked like they hadn’t gotten their snail omelette that morning and were still half-conscious. There was a picture on the blackboard of a human with a spear and a monster that looked like a younger version of their teacher. Frisk didn’t take any notes, since Toriel had talked about this lesson many times since he started living with her. His thoughts were preoccupied with the clock, counting down the minutes until the period was over. 

“Long ago, monsters and humans ruled over the Earth in peace. However, fear from the humans began to grow over time, and soon war broke out between them,” said Toriel. 

A flurry of pencils jotted down notes on the lecture. One student raised her hand, “Why were the humans so afraid of them? Aren’t monsters weaker than humans?”

“Yes, that is true,” answered Toriel. “Good to see you’re paying attention in your health classes. Monster bodies are made mostly of magic while human bodies are made mostly of physical matter. These differences led humans and monsters to study each other peacefully for many years. Eventually, the humans discovered monsters had the power to absorb the souls of humans after a person died.”

Another student interrupted. “So, did monsters start absorbing dead humans’ souls, and that’s what started the war?” 

“Certainly not!” Toriel quickly retorted. “But there were human magicians at the time who understood the capabilities monsters, and they became fearful of us. After a long war, the monsters were sealed under Mt. Ebott with a powerful barrier, trapped for a very long time.” 

Toriel paused to allow the students to catch up. After a minute, a student from the back asked, “Our history teacher told us that the barrier could only be destroyed by the same power that those seven magicians used to create it. So, how did the monsters eventually get out?”

Frisk flinched. The flurry of pencils stopped all at once, as if they knew this question would eventually come up in the discussion. The room grew eerily quiet. His attention towards the clock was broken and instead directed at Toriel. Her body visibly tensed up at the question, her breathing becoming irregular. Looking more and more uncomfortable every second, she struggled to come up with an answer. After what felt like an eternity to Frisk, the former queen of monsters relaxed. 

“Well, another part of that human history is the fable associated with Mt. Ebott itself," she continued, crossing her arms. "The legend stated that the humans who fell into the mountain never returned. The barrier was designed so people and monsters could enter but not exit, so any humans who fell down were doomed to die in the Underground.” Before any other student could respond, she quickly added “However, for the purpose of our discussion, the exact events that led to shattering the barrier aren’t relevant. What is important is that we eventually escaped.”

Toriel smiled and looked at Frisk. “However, due to the actions of the last human who fell into Mt. Ebott, we came back not seeking revenge against humanity, but peace instead. And every day, more monsters and humans are integrating because of his work as our ambassador so they may live together in harmony.”

Frisk smiled nervously. His fellow students looked at him, some with smiles but most with indifference or disdain. His face turned red as he began to sink into his chair. Eventually the students returned their gazes to their notes and Frisk returned to admiring the clock, the hands seemingly turning slower than before. 

\-- 

Despite his rough morning, the rest of Frisk’s school day went smoothly. He got a chance to meet with some of his monster friends during lunch, who were much more respecting of his mother than his human friends. They laughed and shared stories while enjoying their meal and spending their afternoon classes together. 

Eventually, the final bell of the school day rang, and a swarm of students shoved Frisk out the front door, shouting with excitement. Even though he didn’t show it, Frisk felt he was more excited than anybody else for the weekend. For the first time in a while, he didn't have any important ambassador work to attend to.

As he waited outside the school for Toriel, watching the students hurry home, he thought about his embarrassment that morning and his choice to be an ambassador. It was a very important task that no one else could do, which was probably why Toriel mentioned it so often. She was very proud of him, and he knew that she dreamed of the day when all monsters and humans could live together in peace. No one else could help her achieve that dream but him. 

The crowd of students was thinning out, and Frisk began to wonder where Toriel had gone. A few friends noticed him and had some friendly conversation while he waited, talking about their plans for the weekend. Frisk simply smiled and nodded, too distracted to contribute much else. His friends took notice and eventually left him alone, wishing him a happy weekend. 

After half an hour, the front doors of the school flew open, and Toriel walked briskly to meet with Frisk. “I’m so sorry, my child. I was caught up in a meeting with another student and their parents. It was rather...uncomfortable, really. But I won’t bore you with the details. Let’s head home.” 

Frisk smiled and nodded. The two took each other’s hands and began to make their way back home. As they walked, Frisk started to take his mind off his ambassador duties and began focusing on the weekend ahead. He had big plans. 

“So, if I remember correctly, this is your first weekend in a while that you have to yourself, correct?” asked Toriel. 

Frisk beamed and nodded with enthusiasm, causing his hair to fall in front of his eyes. Toriel couldn’t help but laugh as she helped push it back into place, “Well then, I guess you have quite a lot of friends to catch up with, yes? Do you plan to invite them over and hang out with them tomorrow? You should let me know so I can prepare. I’ve been experimenting with more snail recipes lately, and I think Papyrus would like to hear about my idea of ‘Pasta con Escargot’” 

Frisk had to force himself not to visibly cringe at the idea and gave her a smile instead. While talking with Papyrus was definitely a part of his plans for the weekend, there was something he wanted to do first, and he had to do it quick. After getting back home, he quickly ran back to his room and dumped his backpack on the floor, some of his books spilling out in the process. 

Looking at himself in the mirror, his thoughts turned to the rest of the day. Even after all the planning he did, Frisk still felt uncomfortable about this afternoon. After mustering some courage, he walked down the hall into the living room to find Toriel reading a recipe book on her reclining chair. The fireplace had a small blaze keeping her warm. 

Frisk looked up at her and asked “Mom, would it be okay for me to visit some friends for a little while? I promise to be back by dinner.”

Toriel looked up from her book, marking her stopping place with her finger. “Who are you going to visit?” she asked him.

His heart skipped a beat. “Uh, just a few friends from school. Some human kids who live nearby. We’ll be at the school playground.” 

Toriel smiled. “I don’t see why not. Just make sure not to get into any trouble.” 

Frisk nodded. As he started to close the front door, the young child looked back and waved to his loving mother, who was busy revising her snail spaghetti recipe. Leaving her be, he quickly headed outside and breathed a sigh of relief. He peered through the large living room window to make sure she didn’t notice him walking in the opposite direction of the school. 

As he walked down the street towards the edge of the suburb, Frisk put a hand on his stomach. He felt awful for lying to Toriel about where he was going, abusing her trust. His thoughts returned to his class with her that morning, which only made things worse. But as he continued on, he diverted his attention back to his plan and reasoned that it wasn’t that bad. It was only a half-truth. 

After all, he was indeed going to see a friend. And thinking about what they would talk about brought a smile to his face.


	2. Restricted

**! WARNING !**

**THIS AREA HAS BEEN DESIGNATED AS A MONSTER-ONLY ZONE**  
**SPECIAL PERMISSIONS WILL BE NEEDED FOR HUMAN VISITORS**

**FOR QUESTIONS, SEE THE POSTED SENTRY**

The neon-orange sign seemed brighter than ever in the afternoon sunlight. Four iron bolts kept it stable on the brick walls that made up the sentry station. Attached to both ends of the enclosure was a seemingly endless wrought-iron fence that wrapped around the perimeter of the city. These stations served as the only points of entry into the restricted area, and each had its own sign. 

It was a sign Frisk was all too familiar with, both through pictures on newspapers and from his many failed attempts to enter the city on his previous free days. Despite being the ambassador to humans for the monsters, his mother forbade him from visiting. Official ambassador duties were the only exception to the rule, but the young diplomat knew that today wasn’t for business. 

As he drew closer, a soft snore arose from the station’s serving window. Upon peering inside, a few scattered piles of half-smoked bones indicated Doggo was on duty this afternoon. A silver service bell was sitting on the desk, and as soon as Frisk’s hand came into view, the sleepy sentry suddenly shot up out of his chair, barking mad.

“Something moved! Something moved! Who dares try to get past me?!”

While initially startled, Frisk couldn’t help but laugh at the paranoid pup’s outburst. His hand stayed perfectly still as Doggo sniffed the air around him, looking for the slightest indication of trespassers. 

“I know you’re there! I wasn’t dreaming it! Or, er, maybe I was. What time is it again?” 

The crabby canine quickly lowered his head, searching for his watch, which presented the perfect opportunity for Frisk to make his move. His hand met Doggo’s head and the search ended as quickly as it started.

“That pet! I recognize it!” he exclaimed. “The ambassador has graced me with a pet!” 

Not wanting to leave him dissatisfied, Frisk continued petting the guard dog, laughing at Doggo’s outbursts of excitement. After a few minutes, the affectionate dog-lover withdrew his hand and waited for the exhausted pup to calm down before asking for permission to enter. 

“Well, I’m not supposed to just let humans in the city.” Doggo explained. “They must have special permissions, like the sign says. But then again, you’re our ambassador. So I think I can let you through. Just don’t tell anyone it was me if it turns out I wasn’t supposed to. I’m already in enough trouble for smoking on the job!”

After pulling a few levers on the back wall of the station, the gate swung open, revealing the monster’s city behind it. Before he journeyed inside, Frisk gave one last pet of gratitude to the sentry dog, who let out another yelp. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Just as long as you don’t tell anyone I was here either,” he requested. 

“Of course!” reassured the canine. “I would never think of betraying our ambassador! I am loyal to the end!” 

A mild breeze blew across Frisk’s face as he peered past the gate. Remembering that he had no idea how to navigate the city, he grabbed a map from the service window and placed it in his pocket. Breathing deeply, one foot followed another as the sentry station slowly disappeared behind him. 

\--

While many of the homes Frisk walked by were pretty indistinguishable from those in his own neighborhood, some of them were fine examples of monster’s creativity. For every few homes that looked the same, there was one that broke the mold, either because of the unique design of the house itself or the peculiar outdoor arrangements. Frisk recognized a few homes as faithful replicas of those found in the Underground, such as Napstablook’s.

The street was filled with all kinds of monsters, either children enjoying the sunny day or parents tending to their lawns. The suburb wasn’t anywhere near the size of Frisk’s neighborhood, but it seemed to have just as many residents. As much as he enjoyed seeing them again, the stealthy child took back ways in order to stay out of sight. His promise may have been kept with the sentry, but he only imagined how fast word would spread if someone found out he was here. 

As his steps echoed between the alley walls, the young ambassador’s thoughts returned to his duties, and how much his own life had changed since he’d freed the city’s residents from their prison. Having an entire race appear overnight expecting to share the surface did not come easily for the humans, and none of the monsters expected it to. Even after most presented themselves as willing to coexist, many human leaders stalled any decisions, mostly out of confusion. The existence of monsterkind had been lost to them, becoming a myth told in bedtime stories for many years. Temporary camps surrounding Mt. Ebott were set up while the humans decided what to do next.

This was where Frisk came in. For a few months, he and many of his friends explained the monster’s plight and re-educated humanity about their tragic history, trying to convince them that they didn’t desire revenge. After several talks and debates, the human ambassadors took a vote which ruled in favor of allowing monsters to live with them peacefully, agreeing to obey their established code of laws. Soon after, many of the monster’s temporary camps were abandoned. 

However, there were still some who held resentment towards the humans for their past actions, and a petition started to allow them to begin work on their own cities, away from the humans. Not wanting to cause another needless conflict, the human ambassadors agreed, much to Frisk’s displeasure. 

However, the young ambassador’s disappointment couldn’t compare to that of his mother. Several weeks passed after the decision was made when Toriel finally ceased her complaints. However, her disgust was so great that she forbade Frisk from entering the monster-only cities, reassuring him that they would come around to join them one day.

And she seemed to be right. To Frisk’s knowledge, this city was the last of its kind. In order to accommodate the monsters who were willing to integrate, many of the abandoned camp sites were demolished to expand the humans cities. It seemed that soon enough, the monsters who remained segregated would have no choice. 

The sound of approaching footsteps broke Frisk out of his thoughts. Looking around frantically, the only way to escape was out of the alley. As he peered around the corner to see if anyone was looking, he relaxed as he saw his destination a stone's throw away. He ran across the unoccupied street towards the familiar-looking home, checking the mailbox to confirm he was in the right place. 

“Asgore Dreemurr”

\--

The white-bricked abode was a complete replica of New Home, with the only difference being the slanted roof built to keep rain from getting inside. As he looked around to make sure no one was watching him, Frisk wondered if the king had designed the interior to match his previous residence as well, like Toriel had done with her home. 

The area surrounding the house was what caught his eye. The abundance of free space Asgore enjoyed while living on the surface allowed him to plant golden flowers all around the perimeter, from one side of the door to the other, as if they were meant to protect it. The sunlight made the flowers look even more radiant than they did underground, complementing the surrounding white brick. 

As Frisk walked towards the door to see if the king was home, the sound of running water could be heard from the back, accompanied by humming. A smile crept onto his face as he quietly maneuvered through the well-maintained lawn towards his gardening friend, dodging the brilliant flowers with every step. 

_I wonder if he’ll ever take up any other hobby,_ Frisk pondered. _All this waiting for flowers to grow has to get boring at some point, right?_

His mop-haired head slowly rounded the corner, getting a first look at the backyard. He couldn’t help his jaw from dropping as he gazed upon what looked like a preserved natural habitat. Two massive trees on opposite sides of the lawn stretched their branches across the back half, shading anything underneath from the sunlight. The stunned child recognized them as cherry blossoms, even though the dark green leaves showed they were well past the season for their petals to bloom. 

And the flowers! Unlike the front of the house which boasted only the golden variety, the front half of the garden had a spread of flora made up of different colors and species; everything from pure white tulips to dark red roses were present. The impressive display surrounded a dirt path which led to a bench in the middle of the lawn, sitting just within the shade of the trees. 

_I take it back. Maybe_ I’m _the one who needs to learn something new,_ Frisk considered.

After prying his eyes away from the natural beauty, the young child's search for Asgore continued. The humming was louder than before, meaning he couldn’t be far. The sound of soft footsteps suddenly came from behind one of the cherry blossoms, making him duck behind the bench to keep out of sight. Trying to conceal himself, he waited patiently as the king walked past him. He was dressed in a casual button up shirt with grungy-looking jeans and holding a small bag of gardening tools, the fur on his arms and hands matted here and there with dirt and mud. 

“Well, that’s about all I can do for today,” the towering king said with a sigh. “Now then, what time is- oh dear, I left my watch on the bench again, didn’t I?”

Sure enough, there it was sitting right in front of Frisk, who was still ducked down behind the bench. He quickly got up and grabbed the watch just as the king turned to look for it. 

The leaves on the trees stopped rustling and silence surrounded the two, quickly broken as the shocked gardener dropped his bag on the ground. His eyes widened and his body froze, taken aback by the sight of his visitor. After pausing for a few moments, his feet slowly shuffled towards the young guest, whose smile was beaming brighter than the colorful flowers around them. 

“F-F-Frisk?” the king stammered. “W-What are you doing here? How did you...Why are you…?”

A streak of light broke their gaze as Frisk held up the watch. The towering monarch got down on his knees to meet him, extending a shaking hand to grab the timepiece. Before he could get it, the child walked forward and wrapped his arms around Asgore as best he could, greeting the surprised king with a warm embrace.

“I finally got some free time this weekend, and I wanted to see you first,” Frisk said, his voice cracking slightly. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you when I saw you last, so I just came by myself after school today.”

Hearing his ambassador’s voice gradually calmed the king down, and he returned the embrace, a few tears forming in his eyes. 

“I’m sorry, I just...I didn’t expect such a surprise today,” he said with a shaky voice. “But it’s a good kind of surprise.” His arms relaxed to let Frisk go, smiling at him as he put his arms on his shoulders. 

“I’m so glad to see you here, Frisk. Please, let’s go inside and we’ll enjoy a nice cup of tea together. It’s been a long time since I’ve had such a good friend give me company.”

As the king rose to his feet, Frisk once again presented the watch. Asgore smiled and wrapped it around his wrist as they both went inside to enjoy each other’s time. 

\-- 

As they both entered the house, Frisk’s theory turned out to be true. The interior was a faithful replica of its underground predecessor. If it wasn’t for the sunlight shining outside the windows, the young child could’ve easily assumed he’d ended up in The Underground again. 

After washing his hands and arms and preparing a fire in the kitchen for the tea kettle, the king took a deep breath and watched Frisk take a seat at the dining table in the living room. It was difficult for him to contain his excitement, so much so that he overheated the oven and almost set fire to the counter. After several minutes and a high pitched whine from the kettle, Asgore brought over a two steaming mugs for him and his guest. Several minutes went by as they caught up with each other’s activities. 

“I’m sure you’re glad the week is over and you have some free time on your hands,” the king remarked. 

“Yeah, I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for a long time,” Frisk said, pausing every so often to cool down his tea. “I can’t even remember the last time I had a weekend to myself.” 

“Yes, I understand being an ambassador is hard work,” Asgore said, nodding slowly. “That responsibility can be difficult to handle, even for a long-ruling king such as myself. It’s very admirable to see someone as young as you do so much to help us, even if the many residents here don’t always show it.”

A few monster kids could be seen playing outside as Frisk turned his head and nodded. “Is that why you’re here with the monsters and not with us? Because you have responsibility?” he asked. 

“That’s...part of it, yes,” Asgore replied, taken aback by the question. “Being their king...they look up to me as their leader. I don’t approve of their decisions, and admittedly I’m trying my best to find a way to convince them this may not be the best path. Until then, I cannot abandon them in their time of need.” 

A few minutes passed in silence. The sound of laughing children began to fade as they disappeared from Frisk’s sight. Asgore shifted in his seat and took a few sips from his tea, eager to keep the conversation going. 

“So, how is everything going at school?” he asked. 

“It’s going well so far,” Frisk said, returning his attention to his host. “We’re getting close to the end of the school year, so everyone is pretty anxious to finish everything up, including the teachers.” 

“Ah, I’m sure they are,” the king remarked with a chuckle. “The only one I can think of who would be disappointed is your mother. She, uh, is still teaching, right?”

“Yeah, in fact, she was teaching a history lesson this morning,” Frisk said after taking a long sip from his mug. “She talked about monsters and humans, how they got involved in the war a long time ago and-”

The smile on Asgore’s face began to fade. “Oh. I see,” he said, firmly grasping his mug. “I suppose that would be inevitable for the class she teaches.” A frown formed as he stared out the window towards the city. “After all, it is an important part of our history, however painful it might be.” 

“B-but she didn’t say anything about you!” Frisk said frantically, hoping to calm him down. “Someone even asked about the...details of what happened in The Underground. She just said that it wasn’t important for them to know and didn’t talk about it at all.” 

The tense king relaxed a bit and sighed. “Well, that’s good then. Perhaps when they do learn, this city will be a relic of past.” After a long pause, he took one last sip of his tea. 

“In fact, that’s very good indeed,” he continued, his smile returning. “Between that, and giving you permission to visit me today, maybe I can arrange a meeting with Toriel so we can-”

Frisk gasped as he took another sip from his mug. He sputtered and coughed violently for about a minute, prompting Asgore to come quickly to his aid. After a few hearty pats on the back, the nervous child returned to his seat, while Asgore made sure he was alright. 

“I’m okay, it’s just…” Frisk started. His mind reeled as the kind king let out a sigh, relieved that his guest was okay. He stood up and grabbed the mugs from the table to clean them, but Frisk grabbed his hand. His head hung low, his voice weak as he slowly told Asgore the truth. 

“She...Toriel didn't give me permission,” he said quietly. “I came here by myself. She thinks I’m...playing at school with some human friends. I’m sorry.”

The color drained from the king’s face, becoming pale white to match his fur. His mind raced as fast as his heart beat. With his hands on his head, he began to pace around the living room, mumbling to himself frantically in between irregular breaths. Frisk tried to think of something to calm him down, but he knew there was nothing he could do now.

“On the bright side,” Frisk slowly remarked, “I told her I won’t be back until dinner, so we still have some time to-”

“I need to take you home,” Asgore said suddenly, stopping in his tracks. “Right now.” 

“W-Wait!” Frisk pleaded. “There’s still a few hours left before I have to get home. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about not getting permission, but I figured I’d be home before she wanted me to come back. I got here by myself, so I can get back quickly, no problem.”

Asgore shook his head in protest. “Absolutely not. I cannot allow you to break her rules. You shouldn’t have come here to begin with.” 

The disappointment in his voice pierced Frisk’s heart as he sank back into his chair, bringing his knees up to his chin. As the king resumed his pacing, it took all of the young child’s determination to keep himself from bawling. His great idea fell apart before him, and he began to berate himself for telling Asgore the truth. 

The panicking king continued to pace, becoming more and more frustrated with every footstep. He could only think of what his ex-wife would say to him, let alone do to him once she knew Frisk was here. 

“I understand you wanted to see me, and I appreciate it greatly,” he said with a tense voice. “But your mother...she’s given you strict instructions, and she trusts you more than anyone. Why would you lie to her like that?”

Frisk couldn’t take it anymore. His head began to ache as he thought about all the wrong things he had done. With tears beginning to form in his eyes, he looked at the king and shouted, 

“Because I just wanted to spend time with you, Dad!”

\-- 

The child’s scream echoed off the walls for what seemed like an eternity. Asgore stopped dead in his tracks once again, his anger and frustration draining from his mind as he struggled to comprehend what he had heard. All at once, images of his son flashed through his mind; laughing, playing, holding on to him for safety. His voice reverberated with Frisk's inside of his head. Holding his hands up to his face, tears formed in his eyes as he thought about the day everyone in The Underground lost hope. 

“‘Dad’...I haven’t been called that for a long time. Ever since he… he...” he mumbled to himself, unable to continue. He was wracked with emotion, shaking visibly as his thoughts turned to his foolish declaration against humanity and the innocent lives who had to suffer to fulfill it. 

Just as silence began to return, the sound of stifled cries broke the king out of his trance. He looked down and saw his grief-stricken guest, crying into his arms as his shoulders heaved with every breath. With a broken heart filled with regret over his anger, he knelt down in front of the young child, laying his hands on his shoulders. 

“My child...would that make you happy?” he asked. “To call me…‘father?’”

Frisk was too upset to answer. Instead, he nodded and wrapped his arms around the king, returning his embrace. His tears soaked into his father’s shirt as they held each other for several minutes, slowly letting out their grief as they endured the moment together. 

A loud knock at the door shattered the peace, and the two jumped up in surprise, separating themselves. Frisk began to panic and looked up at Asgore, who merely stared at the door. His hands formed in fists and he inhaled deeply. 

“Frisk. Go in the kitchen. I will handle this as best I can,” he said slowly. 

Sprinting as fast as possible, still wracked with emotion, Frisk obeyed. He peered through the entryway to see what was about to happen. After letting out a heavy sigh, the worried king approached the door and paused. A voice bellowed from the other side.

“Your Majesty? Are you there? I thought we were going to do some cooking today!”

All at once, the panic left Asgore and he breathed a huge sigh of relief, as if a giant weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He quickly opened the door, and Frisk was shocked to see Undyne, tapping her foot impatiently. 

“There you are! I tried looking for you out back, but you weren’t there. Thought you forgot about our lesson today and had a little nap,” she said with a laugh. 

“Undyne… I’m so glad to see you. Sorry I didn’t let you in sooner,” the king replied, his breathing slowly returning to normal.

“Hey, not a problem! At least you don’t bug me late at night like Papyrus, begging me to help him with his spaghetti. He can get pretty crazy sometimes,” she said, heading towards the kitchen. “But let’s not waste any more time. I’ll start getting everything ready for-”

Her conversation was cut short as she noticed who was hiding behind the doorpost. As she looked back at Asgore in confusion, Frisk slowly walked up to her and waved. 

“Well, this is pretty unexpected,” she remarked, giving the young child a big smile. “Looks like I’m not the only one around here who hangs out with Asgore anymore. C’mere, squirt!”

Before he could react, Frisk’s body was wrapped in one arm while his head was being furiously noogied with another. Undyne let out a cry of victory as her victim tried to escape. Laughs erupted from them both as Asgore looked on, smiling. 

“As much as I’d hate to break you two up, Frisk does have to get back home. The sun is starting to go down, and he promised his mother he’d be home by dinner.” he said. 

“Really? Laaaaame,” Undyne complained, letting her prey go. “Well, as much as I’d like to tell her otherwise, I guess I shouldn’t let Frisk get in trouble. But hey! You and me are still hanging out tomorrow, right kid?! Don’t tell me you’re gonna keep Asgore here all to yourself this weekend. We’re all looking forward to some bonding time with our favorite ambassador!”

Frisk nodded, rubbing his head where he was assaulted. “Yeah, I’m really looking forward to it!”

Before he started his trek back through the monster city, Undyne stopped him at the door. “Hang on a second, Frisk. There’s no way you’re going to get through the city without being noticed without my help, especially before you have to be back. I’ll get you to the sentry station in time for you to make it to your house. Think of it as an early start to our hangout tomorrow!”

She quickly grabbed the young child’s arm and they began to make their way out of the house. As they moved through the front entrance, Frisk paused and looked up at Asgore. He wanted to say something to him, that he was sorry or that he was glad he got a chance to see him one on one, but he couldn’t think of the right words. The king could see his dilemma written on his face, and he smiled and gave him a quick embrace before sending him on his way. 

“Hopefully we’ll get to see each other again soon,” he said. 

After letting go, Frisk followed Undyne through the city, trying to keep up with her as she sprinted forward. And as he looked back to see his father waving at him... he was filled with determination.


	3. Besties

The next day arrived with a few thick clouds accompanying the bright blue sky. By the time Frisk woke up, the sun was already well above the peak of the mountain range. Laughter from his neighbors playing outside reminded him that today was Saturday. A smile slowly crept across his face as he thought about his friends and all the time they would spend together.

As the young child forced himself upright to get ready for the day, a sharp pain ran through his legs as they met the floor, causing him to almost lose his balance. A groan filled the room as Frisk sat back down on the edge of his bed, rubbing his aching calf muscles. The journey back home from the monster city the night before had taken a lot out of him, even with Undyne’s help navigating him to the sentry station. He had very little time to make it back home before dinner. Running while panicking certainly didn’t make the return trip seem any shorter.

A small knock came from his door, and after a few seconds, Toriel let herself in. Her light blue T-shirt and blue denim jeans were mostly covered by her spotted kitchen apron. As she approached him, the smell of fresh food followed close behind her.

“Are you okay, my child?” she asked with a worried look on her face. “Are your legs still sore from playing with your friends yesterday? You should have taken a break once they started to hurt, especially if you’re going out today.”

“I’m okay, mom. I just forgot how bad they were and got up too fast,” he said, continuing to soothe his muscles. “I promise I’ll be more careful next time.”

After looking him over a few times and giving him a quick hug, Toriel made her way back to the kitchen, stopping briefly at the doorway. “Breakfast will be ready soon,” she said, smiling. “Be sure to show me your invitations for tomorrow before you leave. I want to make sure you don’t forget to bring any.”

She closed the door and Frisk carefully stood up from his bed, walking as fast as he could towards his small desk in the opposite corner of the room. A black metal desk lamp and several pens and pencils of various colors were scattered across the wooden surface. After adjusting his sitting position to give his legs some rest, he opened the top drawer and pulled out a blank sheet of paper and several sealed envelopes. Each one addressed to one of his friends. There was only one left to complete. He would have written it last night, had it not been for his long journey home. Grabbing a black pen, he began writing out the last invitation:

_Howdy!_

_You’re receiving this letter because you’re formally invited to my birthday party this Sunday! It’s going to start early in the afternoon and last however long everyone decides to hang out. It’s going to be held at Toriel’s house._

_I hope you can make it!_

_\- Frisk_

“Breakfast is ready, my child!” came Toriel’s muffled voice from the living room.

Quickly and carefully folding the piece of paper into thirds, Frisk placed the invitation in its envelope and licked it shut. The taste of glue made him reflexively scrunch his face. He grabbed a few colored pencils and carefully drew some pictures on the front, giving it a unique visual flair. After looking it over one last time, he grabbed the rest of the invitations under his arm and headed out of his room.

As soon as he opened the door, the sweet aroma of breakfast surrounded him. Toriel was already sitting at the dining table, smiling as he walked into the living room.

“Ah, there you are! I believe Undyne said she would be here soon, so eat up!” she said.

Placing the invitations on the table next to him, the young child joined his mother at the table and they began to enjoy their meal together. Frisk’s orange juice disappeared in an instant as he desperately tried to get rid of the taste of glue in his mouth while Toriel took a few bites of her snail omelette. Several minutes passed as they ate in silence until she noticed the pile of envelopes next to him.

“Are those all the invitations for your friends?” she asked after taking a sip from her glass. “Looks like there are a few more than I thought.”

Toriel reached over and grabbed the envelopes to see their recipients before Frisk could react, reading them out loud as she went:

“Let’s see here… Undyne, Alphys, Papyrus, Sans and-”

Her voice trailed off as she read the last invitation. Her smile slowly faded and she looked down at Frisk, whose hand was extended across the table, hoping to grab the invitations before she could read them. His face was stricken with panic as he withdrew his hand. Toriel looked back at the name on the invitation with a stern face.

_To: Asgore  
From: Frisk_

The envelope had yellow flowers drawn on the front, surrounding the two names. She noticed each envelope had their own unique patterns as well, showing how much time and effort Frisk had put into each one. Yet, as she stared at the first name, everything inside of her rejected the notion of having Asgore present in her home for the party. Her head swam thinking about everything she had done to keep Frisk away from him and the monster city.

 _There’s just no way I can do it,_ she protested. _Nothing good can come from it! What would Asgore say, after everything we’ve been through? What if he doesn’t even attend? Frisk would be heartbroken._

Her attention returned to Frisk, prepared to tell him how she felt. But seeing her child’s face, she couldn’t bring herself to say “no.” He stared at her with pleading eyes as if he knew every argument she would use against him. It was clear that he had thought about this for a long time, and nothing she could say would cheer him up or change his mind. The room remained quiet for a few seconds, the only sound coming from children playing outside.

Breathing deeply and mustering all her courage, the loving caretaker finally smiled. “Frisk… I…” she started to say. “I think they look great. Especially the pictures you put on the front. They’re… very creative.”

Her words were like music to the child’s ears. His panicked look was replaced with a shocked expression in an instant. Before he could verbally respond, Toriel rose from her chair and began collecting the dishes from the table.

“You had better get ready soon. Undyne will be here any moment,” she said quietly.

She turned around and headed towards the kitchen as Frisk followed, still rendered speechless by her response. As she emptied her hands of the dirty dishes into the sink, she felt two arms wrap around her from behind, holding her tight.

“Thank you…” came Frisk's voice from behind.

He quickly unwrapped his arms and ran to his room, eager to get ready before Undyne arrived, leaving his mother to return to her thoughts. As she turned on the faucet to begin soaking the plates, her head hung low and she let out a pained sigh.

_I hope you know what you’re doing, my child._

\--

A half-hour had passed after the dishes were cleaned when a loud knock came from the front door. After sampling her butterscotch pie custard to make sure it was just right, Toriel removed her oven mitts and apron and headed towards the living room to greet her guest. At the same time, Frisk came running down the hallway with his backpack, wearing a solid green T-shirt with brown shorts, excited to start the day with his friends. As Toriel opened the door, a warm morning breeze washed over her and Frisk as Undyne greeted them. She was sporting her favorite black sleeveless tee with denim jeans, with sneakers instead of her normal ankle-high boots.

“Morning, Toriel!” she said. “Sorry if I’m a little late. Alphys and I were hanging out late last night and we sort of lost track of time. I didn’t think both of us could sleep through two morning alarms.”

“That’s quite alright,” Toriel said with a chuckle. “Frisk’s legs were bothering him this morning after playing yesterday, so I’m sure he appreciates having the extra time to relax.”

The young child stepped forward and waved enthusiastically at Undyne, who immediately bent down to deliver her typical noogie greeting.

“Heya squirt! What’s this I hear about you hurting yourself? I better not hear you whining about that later when we get to the park!” she warned.

After freeing himself from her grasp, Frisk looked up at his best friend, who winked at him knowingly. Before he could respond, Toriel knelt down and nervously looked over the red patch on his head. Undyne put her hands in her pockets, unsure how to properly respond.

“Undyne. I know you and Frisk are planning on playing in the city today,” Toriel said with a serious tone. “And I know you’ve both been looking forward to it for a long time. But please, do be careful. Tomorrow is a busy day and I don’t want Frisk being injured any more than he already is. I hope you understand.”

“Uh, yeah. I understand. Sorry about that,” Undyne responded nervously. “I’ll be sure he gets home safe and sound.”

Toriel nodded her head in thanks and smiled. “Well, don’t let my concern keep you from your playdate. You two have fun!” she said.

After the front door shut completely, Undyne rubbed the back of her head and laughed. “Man, she seems even more on edge than usual, huh? Wonder what’s bugging her so much?”

Frisk looked down at the pavement as they walked, reaching inside his backpack to verify the invitations were still there. He decided not to mention what had happened between him and his mother that morning, hoping to keep things light-hearted for the day. Undyne, noticing how distracted he was, stopped and smiled at him. She grabbed his sides and lifted him onto her shoulders, holding onto his legs to keep him steady. He could see the city’s tall buildings on the horizon.

“Well, mother knows best, right?” she joked. “Plus, what kind of bestie would I be if I let you pass out a few minutes into our hang-out today? Would’ve made our secret escape yesterday pretty pointless, don’t you think?”

Trying to hold on to her as best he could, Frisk wrapped his arms around his friend, grateful for her trust and loyalty.

“Fuhuhu! Alright alright, enough of the lovey-dovey stuff,” she requested. “I won’t be much fun if you keep choking me to death like that!”

The duo passed by Frisk’s school and made their way towards the city where Alphys worked. Their plan was to spend the late morning together in the park until lunch time, and then make their way towards the science lab where Alphys worked and enjoy lunch with her.

“Do you know what kind of work Alphys does at her job?” Frisk asked Undyne as they approached the city limits.

“Not much, actually,” she replied. “All she’s ever told me is she works with human scientists and they’ve been really interested in studying monsters ever since they returned from the Underground. Apparently all the research done before we were sent down there didn’t last, or got lost, or something.”

The city’s skyscrapers began to surround them, accompanied with a claustrophobic feeling. Living in a suburban area, Frisk was used to open spaces where he could run around without having to worry about running into people every step. Undyne herself felt boxed in despite having lived in the Underground for many years. Even on a Saturday, the city was jam-packed with human and monster residents making their way to various stores and offices. The sea of people seemed endless as Frisk looked on ahead atop Undyne’s shoulders, serving as her navigation towards the park.

“Man, even the monster-only cities weren’t this bad,” Undyne remarked. “I can’t imagine anyone regularly walking around in this mess, let alone having to live with it. How do these people sleep?!”

\--

After several minutes and city blocks passed by, the two finally found their destination. To say the park stood out from its urban surroundings was quite an understatement; it was as if someone had taken a large piece of land from the uninhabited mountains, placed it in the middle of the city and then filled it with flora from Asgore’s garden. The grass was evenly cut, dotted here and there with patches of flowers and small man-made lakes.

Yet, like the city, there were still plenty of residents around, enjoying the mostly sunny Saturday morning before they settled down for lunch. Splashes could be heard in the distance as children played in the cool water to relax after running around all morning. Others had settled comfortably on the park’s many benches, either watching their kids carefully as they chased each other or enjoying a nice book under the shade of the trees.

“Whew, I thought we’d never get here,” Undyne sighed, helping Frisk down from her shoulders. Inhaling deeply, she twisted her arms to stretch her muscles. She could never get enough of the park’s fresh air and open spaces. “I swear, sometimes the city is worse than the Underground when it comes to personal space. Wish we could come here more often, ya know?”

Frisk nodded in agreement and the two began making their way towards the baseball field located near one of the park’s corners. Despite Undyne graciously carrying him all the way through the city, the young child’s legs reminded him of his rough journey the day prior with every step. However, not wanting to spoil the entire day, he tried his best to ignore it.

Located at the park’s center was a large fountain, made with white marble stone that glistened in the sunlight as the water danced through its spouts. The center was designed to look like a tree stump, and the main water flow erupted from it. Surrounding it were several stone vines wrapping through and around it, though instead of thorns, there were stone flowers placed all over them. The flowers located at the ends had their own smaller water spouts that sent water to the edge of the basin. The fountain's floor was littered with various coins of different colors and sizes, which were collected at the end of every week. Surrounding the basin were a few brown signs with white lettering:

**TOSS IN A COIN AND MAKE A WISH!  
ALL PROCEEDS GO TO THE LOCAL TEMMIE SCHOLARSHIP FUND**

Frisk decided to take a short detour as he reached into his pocket for a coin. Pulling out a quarter, he closed his eyes and thought about what he wanted the most. The yelling and laughing from the park residents around him became muffled as he concentrated. He let out a sigh and tossed the quarter into the water while thinking to himself:

_I wish… that I can be there to help all my friends, no matter what happens._

As he opened his eyes, a Frisbee whisked by him to the left, breaking him out of his trance and causing him to flinch. As he turned around to see where it had come from, a giant figure bounded towards him and leaped after the Frisbee right into the fountain’s basin. The splash sent water in every direction, much to the delight of a few children walking by. The back of Frisk’s shirt was almost completely soaked. Another splash arose as Greater Dog emerged from below with the Frisbee in his mouth, despite his armor giving him opposable thumbs.

“Hey, you okay squirt? I didn’t mean to throw it THAT close to you,” Undyne said, rushing over to check on Frisk.

The damp child backed away from the fountain as Greater Dog shook himself dry, dropping the Frisbee to the ground to show he was ready for another throw. Frisk smiled at him and instead reached up to give the canine a good petting, which he accepted with equal enthusiasm. Grabbing the Frisbee off the ground, Undyne observed the two for a few minutes, chuckling to herself over the silly scene.

“Fuhuhu! Alright, you crazy dog,” she said. “Hate you break it to ya, but Frisk is mine for the day, and I have to get him back at a decent hour this time. Now go fetch!”

At the sound of her last word, Greater Dog immediately ran past Frisk and prepared himself. Undyne sneered as she gripped the Frisbee tight and gave it a good whirl. After letting go, the disc whizzed off into the distance. The guard dog pursued it as fast as he could, jumping over benches and dodging trees as he went. It was quite the sight to see, and many people cheered him along as he went.

After gathering their bearings, the two besties continued to make their way towards the baseball field. The area was surrounded by a tall chain-link fence that prevented any stray balls from escaping onto the street or through someone's windshield. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to participate in any sports, Frisk sat down on the bleachers to watch a game of kickball being played by a small group of monster children. His shirt was almost dry by the time they reached the field.

“Not feeling up to it right now, huh?” Undyne asked, sitting down next to him. “Something tells me you gotta get out and run more often! Or maybe I should give your gym teacher some lessons on how to train their students better.”

The young child chuckled as he removed his backpack from his shoulders. He reached inside, deciding now would be a good time to give his friend her invitation to his party tomorrow. As he shuffled through the envelopes to find the right one, Undyne suddenly shot up from her seat and caught a kickball headed straight for him, causing the startled child to flinch and throw his hands up in surprise.

“Hey! Watch where you’re aiming, would ya?!” Undyne shouted. “My friend’s legs are killing him. The last thing he needs is a busted skull to go with it!”

The group suddenly realized they had spectators. Monster Kid, who had kicked the ball, came and greeted them.

“Yo! Undyne! I didn’t even see you show up,” he said excitedly. “Sorry about that, I promise we weren’t aiming for you. What’s going on?”

“Nothing much, just hanging out with my bestie, enjoying the only place in this city that isn’t completely crowded” she said, pelting the ball back towards the pitcher. “Looks to me like your gym teacher is working you guys pretty well after all. That was a pretty sweet kick there, even if it did almost eviscerate my friend over here.”

Monster Kid chuckled, blushing a bit from the compliment from his hero. “T-Thanks! I’ve been working really hard to become stronger since we got to the surface. I decided I want to help other monsters be stronger, just like you do!”

“Fuhuhu! Well, in that case, get back on that plate and let me show you how it’s done!” she bellowed. “Come on, Frisk! Let’s move up and give these kids a real game of kickball!”

After checking to make sure none of his invitations had fallen out, Frisk grabbed his backpack and followed Undyne down to the lowest seat on the bleachers. As the game continued on, Undyne began shouting encouragement from the sidelines, as if she was coaching a team. Though, at times, her former military experience made it seem like she was instructing a new group of soldiers for the Royal Guard.

“Come on, you wimps! My lazy skeleton friend can run faster than that!”

“Imagine the ball as the head of your enemy!”

“What?! How did you get hit?! Learn to slide into the base next time!”

While the group of monsters may have seen it as a bit intrusive, Frisk couldn't help but laugh at his friend’s enthusiasm. An hour and a half passed until the two teams finally decided they would break for lunch, though Frisk suspected they probably just didn’t want to hear anymore encouragement from Undyne.

“Whew! That was a lot of fun,” she said, beaming at Frisk. “I would’ve preferred if you were there, kicking some butt. But at least that gives us a reason to hang out again later, right? Now, let’s get over to Alphy’s lab so we can get some food. All that coaching made me hungry!”

\--

Before Frisk retook his place on top of her shoulders, he quickly reached inside his backpack and grabbed the invitation for his friend. The front was decorated with pictures of her spear, and a rough sketch of her armor stood right next to her name. As they both made their way back into the city, he handed it to Undyne.

“Fuhuhu! Nice try drawing me and my armor, Frisk. Next time call me up and I’ll pose for you! What’s this all about, anyway?” she asked.

Navigating through the afternoon lunch rush, she sliced open the envelope and pulled out the letter, switching her attention between the letter and the crowd to make sure she didn’t run into anyone. After reading it through, she let out a hearty laugh and reached up to rub Frisk’s head.

“Looks like you were one step ahead of me, squirt!” she said. “Of course I’d be up for coming to your party tomorrow! Hopefully by then you’ll be able to actually walk around and enjoy yourself.”

Frisk smiled and wrapped his arms around her, excited to know at least one of his friends could make it. As they both stood at the last intersection before they reached Alphys’ lab, he grabbed Asgore’s invitation from his backpack and gave it to her.

“Since you live in the monster city, do you think you could give this to him for me?” Frisk asked. “I’m still not allowed to visit.”

Undyne started at the invitation and paused for a moment, thinking about what to say. “Does Toriel know about this?” she asked nervously.

Frisk nodded. “She saw it this morning. She… didn’t look too happy at first, but she didn’t say I couldn’t invite him. In fact, she said they all looked great.”

“Hmm…” Undyne replied, sucking in air between her teeth. “Well, I guess if she allows it, there’s no reason not to. Heck, maybe this will cheer up the big guy for once.”

The crosswalk light turned white and the crowd of people in front of them began to move. After walking to the end of the block, they turned right and around the corner stood Alphys’ lab. It was a fairly new-looking facility, with a wrought iron fence surrounding the compound. Unlike the skyscrapers around it, the building was only a few stories tall, yet its width took up several city blocks worth of space. As the two got closer, they saw various groups of human and monster scientists having conversation with each other.

Undyne helped Frisk down as they passed through the visitor’s gate. They walked towards the entrance to the main floor, and the young child thought about his mother’s reaction that morning and his meeting with Asgore the day prior, looking distraught.

“Hey, what’s eatin’ ya, squirt?” Undyne asked, noticing the frown on his face. “We made it on time, didn’t we?”

“Undyne…” Frisk started. “Do you know why Asgore won’t live with the humans?”

Taken aback at first by the question, the former captain of the Royal Guard sighed. “That’s a pretty tough question to answer, kid. I don’t think I’m the one you should be asking.”

“But you were there yesterday, right?” he continued. “You spend time with him and-”

“Yeah, I know I do Frisk, but that’s not the point.” she protested. “Look… all I’m gonna say is there are lot of reasons why some monsters stay in that city. Some of them may have the same reasons, but Asgore is different. A lot different. I don’t think I’m the person to tell you, and even if I was, I’m pretty sure he hasn’t told me everything himself.”

“Oh… okay,” Frisk said quietly, disappointed by her answer. “I guess I didn’t think about it that way.”

Not wanting him to be depressed for lunch, Undyne quickly hoisted him back up on her shoulders and smiled at him. “But hey, don’t worry about it too much. I’ll still give him his invitation, so maybe you two can spend some time tomorrow talking about it yourselves. I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you.”

Frisk nodded and they continued forward towards the dining area of the facility, ready to enjoy lunch together.


	4. Of Scientists And Skeletons

The scientific research complex was as roomy on the inside as it looked on the outside. Several large groups of scientists were wandering outside their labs. However, there was plenty of space to move around, unlike the city Frisk and Undyne had traversed a few hours prior. As the two besties made their way across the polished floor of the main foyer, a sea of white coats and thick glasses stretched before them. They all seemed to be taking the same escalator towards the second floor, which according to the directory, led to the cafeteria. 

Before they could follow the crowd, the duo had to check in at the front desk to gain access to the lab proper. A long line of walk-through metal detectors marked the end of the public foyer. Only one of them was currently active. Sitting at the desk was a monster who they both recognized as the previous head librarian of Snowdin. As they approached, she quickly noticed them and smiled. 

“Good morning, you two,” she cheerfully greeted. “Or, is it afternoon? My mornings tend to fly by pretty quickly.”

A large ornate clock hung right above their heads, and Frisk took a few steps back to get a good look. It was currently a quarter till noon.

“Well, either way, I’m sure you’re here to see Alphys, correct?” the former librarian asked. 

“That’s right!” replied Undyne, directing her attention away from the swarm of people around her. “That is, if we can get through that pile-up over there by the escalator. Do you know if Alphys is off for lunch yet?” 

The secretary donned her glasses hanging around her neck and looked through her computer records. After typing in a few queries, she squinted to read the small text on screen. “Let’s see... according to this, she should be out in a few minutes. If you two get through now, you should be able to see her soon.” 

After typing a few more commands into the terminal, she placed two plastic cards into a slotted machine and then handed them to Frisk and Undyne. The company’s logo was printed on the front: a clear beaker partially filled with bubbling blue fluid with a large atom behind it. A white patch of fabric was glued to the middle with scratch marks covering the surface. At the bottom, printed in big bold letters was the word “VISITOR”.

“Well, don’t let me hold you two up any longer,” the secretary said with a smile. “Be sure to show those badges to the guards past the metal detector. Have a wonderful day!”

After wishing her the same, the two besties took off all their metal belongings and put them in a bin to be scanned. A Loox was on duty, wearing a security uniform complete with a hat. He carefully examined the screen as the bin disappeared into the scanner, looking for any hazardous materials trying to pass by unnoticed. After recovering their belongings, the two visitors were stopped by Dogamy and Dogaressa, who were also on duty as security officers in official uniform. Their job was to make sure no unauthorized visitors passed through into the facility. 

“Hold it!” said Dogamy harshly. “We need to see your passes before we can let you through.”

“Yes, your passes,” Dogaressa confirmed. “You should have received them from the front desk.”

Undyne rolled her eyes and smiled at Frisk. “Never thought these two would end up being security guards, huh? I was pretty surprised myself when I found them here the first time.” 

They produced their plastic cards and handed them to the love-sick guards. The couple acted in unison, as if they practiced their routine together every day. After scratching the surface of the fabric patches, they held the passes close to their snouts for a few moments and gave them a good sniff. 

“Ah, visitors,” said Dogaressa, her voice now much calmer. “Thank you for your patience. You may pass through.”

“Have a wonderful day!” said Dogamy. “Stay safe and take care.”

The guards returned the passes, and Frisk and Undyne began to make their way towards the elevator. Suddenly, the guards began to sniff heavily as the two walked by them.

“Oh my!” Dogaressa suddenly exclaimed, her ears perked up. “That smell...our former captain has come to visit today!”

“And that other smell…” said Dogamy curiously. “She’s most definitely with a human. And they seem vaguely familiar.”

Undyne shook her head and chuckled at the guards’ erratic behavior. “That’s because it’s Frisk, you guys. You know, the human who set us all free from the Underground?”

“Ah, yes! How on earth could we forget?!” Dogamy cried, bowing in gratitude. “He gives such good pets, too!”

The young child smiled at the compliment, reaching up to give him a pat of the head. Not wanting to be left out, Dogaressa copied her husband's actions and received the same treatment. 

“Alright, alright. Enough, you two,” Undyne said clutching her forehead. Her hunger was beginning to get the better of her. “It’s great to see you again, but Frisk and I have to get going. We don’t want to miss our lunch.” 

The young child waved goodbye to his canine friends and the two continued their walk towards the cafeteria. By now the crowd of scientists had cleared from the escalator, no doubt waiting in line to receive their food. 

“Have you ever thought about working as a security guard, Undyne?” Frisk asked as they both stepped on the escalator. “I think it would be a great job for you.”

Undyne let out a hearty laugh at the notion. “Now there’s an idea! I guess working as a security guard would be kind of cool.” She paused as her smiled faded. “But… I don’t know. I was the head of the Royal Guard for a long time. You get tired of it after a while, you know? As important as it was, it wasn’t the most glamorous job in the world.”

Frisk nodded, thinking about his own responsibilities as a human ambassador. Undyne rustled his hair and chuckled as they neared the top.

“Besides, I’m happy where I am right now. I get to train squirts like you every day to be better and stronger! What else could I want?”

\--

The cacophony of various conversations blending together made the cafeteria seem even more chaotic to Frisk and Undyne as they stepped off the escalator. Many of the employees and staff had already settled down in their favorite spots, enjoying their afternoon meal. Some huddled together in groups of different sizes, laughing or discussing important work. Others were by themselves, trying to focus as they hunched over their laptops. 

The cafeteria itself was an impressive sight. Past the balcony area looking over the first floor was an expansive room with various restaurants lining the outer perimeter. At the very back was an entryway towards various labs and offices, blocked off by another gate. Any scientists who hadn’t taken the escalator from the first floor entered from the other side of the room. Multiple skylights dotted the ceiling, bringing in streams of afternoon sunlight from two stories above their heads. 

“Great…” Undyne sighed, looking around for any free tables to claim. “I was hoping it wouldn’t be this bad today. Probably shouldn’t have gotten involved with that kickball game back at the park.”

“Let’s see if I can help then,” Frisk suggested. He lifted his arms towards his tall friend, who took the hint and hoisted him onto her shoulders once again.“There’s gotta be some seats around here somewhere. And if not, maybe we’ll find Alphys and she can help us out too.”

“Well then, I’m counting on you, Frisk. Lead the way!” Undyne said heartily. 

As they navigated through the labyrinth of chairs, tables and restaurants, the tag team gathered a few curious looks from observers as they tried to find a place to sit. Some smiled and waved while others rolled their eyes and continued their conversations. Whatever the reaction, they were quite the sight to see. After several minutes, Frisk finally pointed out a lone table in one of the cafeteria’s corners. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, Undyne dashed as fast as she could to claim it with her navigator holding on for dear life. 

“Fuhuhuhu! Couldn’t hide from us for long! I knew we’d find it eventually!” Undyne triumphantly exclaimed. 

As they neared their eating spot, Undyne turned her body 90 degrees and slid her feet across the tile floor, suddenly stopping to prevent herself from impacting the metal table. The force was enough to throw Frisk in front of her, still holding on as tight as he could to prevent being imprinted onto the wall.

“Heh heh. Sorry about that, Frisk,” Undyne said, blushing slightly. “They wax these floors really well, and it’s hard not to pass up the opportunity. Plus, we found our seat, right? Now let go before you choke me to death!”

Placing his feet on the edge of the table, the shaken child carefully balanced himself and let go of his friend, sighing with relief. His legs were feeling a little bit better, but he didn’t want to risk it by landing on the floor from that height. As he claimed his seat, Undyne suddenly jumped up onto the tabletop and put a hand on her forehead to focus her attention on the crowd, squinting her eyes and turning her head back and forth. 

“Now all we’re missing is Alphys…” she said under her breath. 

Had he not already sat down, Frisk would've volunteered to help her by climbing back onto her shoulders. The back and bottom of the chairs were padded, making them very comfortable. However, trying to find Alphys with only one pair of eyes would be impossible with such a dense crowd, so he adjusted his body and began searching for her as best he could.

A few minutes passed, and a small gap in the crowd appeared just as Frisk turned his head towards the back of the room. He caught a glimpse of Alphys’ yellow scales as she emerged from the gate. 

“Undyne! I found her, she’s coming from the back gate!” he exclaimed. 

Her head immediately snapped towards the back of the room and sure enough, Alphys had already spotted her standing on the table, waving as she quickly ran towards them. She was sporting her standard lab coat, which looked very similar to the one she had worn in the Underground. The only difference was the company logo embroidered on the breast pocket, which currently housed several writing utensils. A pair of spectacles were also clipped to the front pocket, bouncing up and down as Alphys navigated between the chairs and their occupants. She carefully moved through the crowd, much more elegantly than Frisk or Undyne had done. 

“Hey guys!” the former royal scientist greeted. “Thanks for having lunch with me! Sorry it took so long to get here. We were having some...well, interesting results today in the lab. But I’m here now, and that’s what matters, right?”

Undyne hopped off the tabletop with a huge smile on her face and lifted Alphys off her feet, hugging her tightly. Immediately, the bashful scientist’s face turned a deep shade of red as Frisk and a few onlookers smiled and giggled at the lovely sight. After Alphys had been let go, she didn’t have much time to recover before the young child greeted her with his own warm embrace, albeit not as intense. 

“Aw geez, Frisk, thanks for coming by to hang out,” she said, returning his embrace. “It means a lot to me. Especially since today’s a Saturday.” 

As the two let go of each other, Undyne was beaming as she wrapped them both in her arms and let out a hearty chuckle. “Man, I’ve been looking forward to this for a while. All three of us, hanging out together! Now come on, let’s get some grub now that the lines are starting to die down!” 

As the three friends made their way to the back wall of the cafeteria, one particular restaurant booth caught Frisk’s eye. While many of the surrounding restaurants were very simple in design and visually-pleasing to look at, this one was quite the opposite. The tiles covering the front of the service counter had glittering sequins in them, gleaming in the sunlight from above. Atop the booth was a sign outlined in neon LED light bulbs of various colors, alternating in a pattern that made it look like a carnival attraction as opposed to a restaurant. Surrounded by the gaudy light display was the establishment’s name:

**MTT GLAMBURGER EMPORIUM**

The only non-”glamorous” part of the booth was poor Burgerpants working as the cashier, looking as enthusiastic about his work as ever as the trio approached him. Upon noticing them, he immediately put on a happy, yet agonized face.

“Hello, and welcome to MTT Glamburger Emporium, where our customers are the stars. How can I help you today?” he said with fake enthusiasm.

Despite eating there every time she visited, Undyne couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head in pity every time she heard his greeting. Alphys nervously raised a hand to greet him; his shifty attitude and fake smiles had always been a bit off-putting to her. Frisk, on the other hand, was quite surprised to see him and greeted him warmly. 

“Whoa. Have I been working too long, or is that my little buddy standing at the counter?” the young cashier pondered.

“It’s him alright, Burgerpants,” Undyne said, looking up at the menus to see if they were serving anything other than glamburgers today. They weren’t. 

“Wow! It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” said Burgerpants, now sounding much more relieved. “I hear that you’re out there doing some ambassador work for the monsters, right? Making it big in the world, doing important business? Mighty fine job, little buddy. Just remember that it was all because of your good pal BPants that you made it this far.”

His expression suddenly shifted to a crazed look as he held up his arms and shouted, “Ya know, ‘cause you didn’t end up like me, still stuck at this forsaken restaurant!”

A few scientists walking by suddenly stopped and looked up from their work, startled by the outburst. The overworked employee immediately put his arms down and tried his best not to look at them. Alphys had taken a few steps back away from the counter in shock while Undyne was covering her mouth with her hand, trying her best not to lose control from laughter. After a few moments of awkward silence, Frisk smiled to try to make him feel better. 

“It’s alright. I think you’ll get out of here one day,” he said lightly. “But in the meantime, I’ll have a glamburger for lunch, please. Keep the change.”

Burgerpants let out a sigh and took the money his little buddy had placed on the counter. “Ha ha. Thanks. Sorry if I scared you there for a bit. You’re right; I just gotta keep working hard and one day I’ll get out of here. Maybe I’ll even make it as far as you.” 

Not wanting to ruin his fantasy, Frisk gave Burgerpants a thumbs up as he turned his attention to Alphys and Undyne, who were still recovering from his outburst. “So, what can I get you two ladies today?”

Undyne exhaled loudly as she removed her hand from her face. “I’ll… I’ll just have what Frisk is having. And I think Alphys will too,” she said, still trying her hardest not to laugh. She reached into her pocket and withdrew the money needed for their order.

“Great! Three glamburgers, coming right up!” he exclaimed, turning around towards the kitchen. As he sprinted through the double doors to prepare their meal, Alphys shook her head and sighed. 

“I still can’t believe Mettaton still only has... that guy to run his restaurant,” she lamented. “I wonder why he doesn’t do something about it?” 

“Well, it’s not like that kid gives a great first impression!” retorted Undyne. “I mean, just look at this place! There wasn’t anyone in line when we got here and I don’t see anyone ready to start!”

A few minutes later, the kitchen doors flew open again, and Burgerpants came out with a tray of three hot aluminum bags, also covered in sequins. After receiving their meal, the three friends began to make their way back to their table. Frisk turned around and waved goodbye to his hard-working pal, who returned it with a sly smile and a wink.

\-- 

Luckily for Frisk, it didn’t appear as though the glamburger had any non-edible substances in it. However, that didn’t keep Undyne from eyeing the sparkling sandwich suspiciously. Despite Alphys’ reassurance that it was safe for consumption and even though it wasn’t her first time eating one, she didn’t trust it for a second. 

“At least it’s not the steak,” said Alphys with a shrug. “It takes a long time to get used to that dish.” 

About a minute passed before Frisk and Undyne’s hunger got the better of them. Slowly but surely, they took their first bite of the sandwiches. To Frisk’s surprise, it wasn’t half bad. The sequins were actually sprinkles that had been coated with an edible substance to make them reflective. They didn’t go very well with the burger itself, but neither of them had expected a fantastic meal anyway. 

“So, how is Mettaton doing anyway?” asked Frisk, wiping some ketchup from his cheek. “You know, other than opening a restaurant chain.”

Alphys giggled. “Well, it’s not exactly a chain right now. I think that booth is the first one he’s opened here in this city. But apparently there were a lot more in the monster-only cities. But after they began to shut down, he had to expand.”

“Well, there isn’t one where we live,” Undyne remarked, leaning back in her chair to relax. “Did he just give up on it now that there’s only one left?”

“I’m not sure,” Alphys said with a shrug. “I know he’s been busy doing a whole bunch of stuff in the monster city though. He’s hosting beauty contests, game shows, all that stuff. I’m surprised you haven’t seen some of his advertisements around.”

“Oh, I have. But I mostly ignore them,” Undyne admitted with a smirk. “I have more important things to do than worry about what that silly robot has been up to.”

Alphys frowned at the remark. “Y-y-yeah, I g-guess that makes sense. You’ve been pretty busy lately…”

A few moments went by and Frisk decided to break the awkward silence between them. Reaching inside his backpack, he grabbed Alphys’ invitation to his birthday party. The front was decorated with various scientific tools, from beakers to test tubes and more. Next to her name was a rough sketch of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie. 

“Oh, what’s this?” wondered Alphys, taking the invitation from her friend. “O-oh man, for me? That’s so nice! You even drew Mew Mew pretty well there!”

Using her index claw to carefully open the envelope, she pulled out the letter and began to read. As she finished, Undyne got up out of her chair to have a stretch. “Well, I’ll let you two discuss that party. I’m gonna go get us some desserts for the road.” As she disappeared into the crowd, Alphys put the letter down and let out a sigh, rubbing her eyes in frustration. 

“Are you okay, Alphys?” asked Frisk with a concerned look. “Did I do something wrong with the letter?”

“N-no no! You’re okay Frisk. This letter is very sweet,” she said quickly. “It’s just… well, sometimes Undyne can be a little too heavy handed when she makes fun of other people. Even though I’m not as… acquainted as you are with Burgerpants, I still wouldn’t laugh at his situation. It’s horrible!”

“Have you talked to her about it?” Frisk wondered as he began cleaning the excess sequins off the table.

“Well, that’s what I’m kind of frustrated about,” she admitted. “Lately it seems Undyne’s been more… reclusive than usual. She and I haven’t been doing as many activities together lately, and for a while I didn’t bring it up.” 

She leaned in closer and lowered her voice. “W-we, uh...we had a bit of a fight about a week ago. You see, Undyne and I still live together in the monster city and she refuses to live with the humans. And I’ve tried as much as I can to convince her to move here. I’m already working here in the lab, and there are plenty of jobs for her here in the city! It would make the commute so much easier.”

The young child nodded, understanding her logic. “But do you think maybe it’s because she doesn’t want to get a new job? She said that she was happy working with the monster kids at the school when we were in the lobby.”

“I-I guess that could be it,” she admitted with a sigh. “But then why won’t she just tell me that? It feels like she’s keeping secrets from me. And by now, I think we both know how that can turn out.”

Knowing that she was thinking about her experiments in the Underground, Frisk put his hand on top of hers, trying to comfort her as her face fell. She smiled at him for his kind gesture and leaned back in her chair, continuing her story.

“Anyway, I finally stopped her one morning and demanded she tell me why she won’t move out of the monster city. She...didn’t take it kindly, and I think she was pretty shocked that I had yelled at her. I never got an answer; she just walked out quickly, saying she had to get to work before she was late.” She let out another heavy sigh, her face downcast. “Honestly, I don’t want to assume anything, but the more this happens, the more I think she’s holding some kind of...w-well, vendetta against the humans, you know?”

Frisk shook his head. “I don’t think that has anything to do with it. I think if she did, she wouldn’t have taken me to the park this morning.”

“But she felt uncomfortable, didn’t she?” she asked knowingly. “She probably said she felt claustrophobic in the city, right?”

Frisk nodded, much to his friend’s displeasure. “That’s what she always says,” said the disgruntled scientist, putting her head in her hands in grief. “I guess I’m mostly frustrated because I think she’s lying like I used to, and it drives me crazy! It doesn’t help that it’s such a chore getting back and forth to work everyday, so that’s more time wasted when I could be talking with her.”

“Talking with who?” came Undyne’s voice behind Frisk.

Alphys jumped up in her chair, startled that Undyne had come back sooner than she expected. She was holding three Nice Creams in her hand, each one a different flavor. 

“U-u-uhh, I mean, I-I was just-” Alphys stuttered. 

“Hey, by the way, they didn't have your favorite flavor today,” interrupted Undyne. “So I got you that fruit flavored one you said you liked instead.”

“O-o-oh, th-that’s okay. Thanks for getting me some,” Alphys said, still shaken. “Frisk and I, uh...we were just talking about some anime stuff!”

Before Undyne could respond, the ornate clock in the lobby began to ring, signaling that it was now 1 in the afternoon. Immediately, the sea of scientists rose from their seats and began to discard their trash around the cafeteria before heading back to their labs to work. Alphys let out a sigh of relief and followed their lead, quickly standing up while straightening her lab coat. She anxiously grabbed her Nice Cream from Undyne's hand. 

“Well, that’s my signal! Sorry I couldn’t hang out with you guys longer, but duty calls.” She turned toward Frisk and gave him a goodbye wave. “It was really great to see you again. And I’ll definitely be coming to your party tomorrow!” 

After giving another goodbye wave to her friends, the paranoid scientist made her way to the back gate. Undyne crossed her arms and gave her a confused look. 

“Well, that was pretty hasty, don’t you think? Wonder what’s gotten into her…” 

Frisk reached upwards, grabbed his vanilla-flavored Nice Cream from his friend and gave her a smile. 

“Maybe you should talk to her,” he suggested. 

\-- 

After checking out of the lab and returning their badges to the front desk, Frisk and Undyne exited the research facility and made their way towards their last destination for the day: Sans and Papyrus’ home. Unlike Undyne and Alphys who lived in the monster city, the two brothers lived on the edge of the integrated city opposite to Frisk’s suburb. Luckily, they were already halfway there, and the crowds outside had died down quite a bit now that lunch was over and everyone had returned to work. 

A few more clouds had formed since that morning, and a television store was tuned to the local weather. Apparently there was a small chance for some rain the next day, much to Frisk’s displeasure. 

“Guess we won’t be having an outdoor party, huh?” said Undyne. “Hey, look at this way. At least we’ll have a little privacy.”

About a half hour passed when Frisk began noticing scenery changes. The towering skyscrapers seemed to fade away as they were replaced with townhouses a few stories high. On one hand, the lack of tall buildings made things seem less “claustrophobic”, as Undyne had complained about. On the other hand, the neighborhood wasn’t nearly as well maintained as the city proper, nor was the grass as well-treated as Frisk’s neighborhood. Each townhouse had a very small piece of front lawn allotted to it near the front door, many littered with worn-out decorations. 

“Is this really where they live?” Frisk wondered with disbelief. “I imagined them living in a house that looked more like what they had in Snowdin.”

“Well, they would’ve,” Undyne said with a chuckle. “But you know how Papyrus can be. From what I know, the guy who sold him the place was kind of...shifty. He really talked the place up like it was as good as his Snowdin home, but it really isn’t that great.”

Distant barking could be heard as the two continued through the neighborhood. As they passed by several homes, a few children and their parents waved at them, smiling. 

“Don’t let looks deceive you, though. There are a lot of good people here,” Undyne said reassuringly. “I’ve had some conversation with some of the families here while visiting Papyrus and Sans, and they all have such unique stories to tell.” 

A few minutes later, the two had reached their last destination for the day. The three story townhouse was unique as it was on the corner, which provided more lawn space for its two owners. The wooden steps creaked as they made her way up to the door and gave it a few loud knocks. 

“Hey Papyrus! It’s me, Undyne. I brought a guest with me who I’m sure you’ll be excited to see!”

From outside entryway, Frisk could hear the sound of pots and pans hitting a hard surface and the shuffling of feet. A few moments later, the door swung open and Papyrus greeted them both, enthusiastic as always. 

“Oh my God! Is that you Frisk?! It feels like it’s been months! Which...I guess it has been, hasn’t it?” 

The young child wrapped his arms as best he could around his skeletal friend, who unexpectedly lifted him off his feet and returned a strong embrace. His bones were surprisingly warm against his cheek. 

“Nyeh heh heh! Hugs are a lot easier when we’re both on the same level! Truly I am the greatest of friends!” he exclaimed.

As Frisk was being smothered, Undyne let out a hearty laugh, enjoying the silly sight. “Well, just so you remember Papyrus, Frisk and I will always be the best of friends. But you make a good close second.”

“That may be true,” retorted Papyrus, putting Frisk back down on the ground carefully. “But I’ll let Frisk be the judge of that! Perhaps his opinion will change once he gets a taste of my new recipe!”

With that, the proud skeleton moved aside and let his guests in. The interior was rather cramped, but looked fairly neat. The living room had a slightly-weathered green couch that Frisk recognized from his home back in Snowdin. What was missing was his big-screen television, which had been replaced with a much smaller one that looked several years old. 

“Ah yes, I see you're admiring my new television set,” Papyrus said proudly, walking in behind Undyne. “Admittedly it’s not as great as it used to be. But the extra money I received from selling it allowed me to buy this!”

He quickly ran into the kitchen and lifted up a heavily worn apron. Stitched into the front were the words “COOL COOK” in black, as well as a rough stitching of Papyrus’ head with sunglasses on. Undyne gave him an incredulous look while Frisk giggled at the sight. 

“This is no laughing matter, Frisk!” Papyrus said indignantly. “For you see, this apron guards me from all kinds of hazardous materials that may come my way while cooking. It’s like a second battle body, reserved only for the culinary arts! I’ve been observing the practices of a human chef that Undyne recommended to me, and his style is very... intense, to say the least.”

“Oh man, but isn’t he the best though?!” replied Undyne. “I love watching him go around to other people’s stores and tell them how bad they are at cooking. Especially that one episode where he uses that one chef’s head as a sandwich. Hilarious!”

Unsure of what either of them were talking about, Frisk reached into his backpack and retrieved another invitation. As Papyrus tied the apron back on his battle body, the young child walked up him and handed the letter to his chef friend. 

“Oh! Well, as great as letters are, they don’t make very good cooking ingredients, Frisk!” said Papyrus. “Perhaps you were looking for the ladle instead.” 

“I think he wants you to open it, ya doof,” replied Undyne with a laugh. 

Papyrus’ smile faded a bit. “Ah. Well then, I will have to open it later then! I’m in the middle of a very important recipe that I’m determined to get right! Perhaps you can help me, Undyne?”

His former boss thought for a moment before shrugging and walking into the kitchen. “Eh, alright. I’ll bite. What have we got here?”

Papyrus then broke down the strange recipe he was working on that afternoon. Soon enough, after he had finished explaining everything about the dish, the kitchen turned into a war zone as the two began to cook together just like the old days in the Underground. Various ingredients, from powders to fluids, began flying in various directions. Knowing that he wouldn’t be much of a help to either of them, Frisk opted to retreat while he could. He turned around and sat down on the living room couch to relax. Immediately, the sound of a whoopie cushion squelched from under him, followed by a familiar voice. 

“Hey there, kiddo. Don’t you know how to greet an old pal?”


	5. Neutral

The wet sound of the whoopee cushion slowly faded as Frisk quickly rose from the couch and turned around. Standing right behind him was none other than Sans, his only friend silly enough to pull such a prank. He looked no different than the last time he and Frisk had spent time with each other; his hands were in the pockets of his blue jacket covering his white T-shirt, and his shorts and slippers were all the same. As Frisk quickly maneuvered around the sofa, he briefly wondered if Sans and Papyrus ever changed their clothes at all. 

“Well, it might not be as clever as the handshake trick, but it’s still always funny,” reassured Sans. As Frisk neared him, he extended his hands forward. “How’s it going, buddy? Been awhile, hasn’t it?”

"I've been doing great!" beamed the young child as he wrapped his arms around his prankster friend. The two shared a tight embrace. "I'm really happy to see you, Sans." 

They let go of each other and sat down on the sofa to get comfortable, this time making sure the area was clear of any wacky traps. Frisk was sitting upright while Sans slouched and sank into the seat cushion, as if he were merging with it. 

“So, what’s been going on with you lately?” inquired Sans.

“Well, school’s still in session right now,” Frisk started, thinking back to his class with Toriel the day before. “A lot of students are happy that the year is almost over.”

“I bet they are. More time for them to hang out with their own friends,” replied Sans with a wink. “Me and Papyrus have been watching you on the television every now and then, catching up with all your important ambassador duties. You’re a big hit among the monsters here in the city.”

“Really?” Frisk gawked, his face turning red at the thought of his popularity. “I mean, I just agree with everything Asgore says during the talks. I usually don’t even get to say much on my own unless I’m talking about what happened to me in the Underground.”

“True. I’ve noticed that,” admitted Sans. “But still, you play an important role there, whether you believe it or not. Which is probably why you haven’t been able to visit us very often until now since we all escaped.”

“I’m really sorry. I haven’t gotten much of a chance,” the young child mentioned glumly. 

“Eh, don’t sweat it kiddo,” replied Sans, waving his hand towards him. “I always kinda figured you’d come by and visit at some point. You know me; I’m a patient skeleton.” He raised his hand and pointed his thumb towards the kitchen. “You can mostly thank Papyrus for that. He’s been getting awfully serious with his cooking ever since Undyne sent him those videos.” 

Frisk stifled a laugh as he peered over his friend towards the kitchen. Sure enough, Papyrus and Undyne were still engaged in culinary combat, unaffected by the hijinks occurring in the living room right next to them. Various cooking materials, utensils and ingredients continued to fly from the counter as Undyne screamed instructions and Papyrus laughed heartily. 

There was no doubt that whatever they were making probably wouldn’t be dinner. As Frisk realized this, he tore his eyes away from the entertaining kitchen shenanigans and noticed sunlight bathing the homes across the street in bright orange light. Suddenly, he began to feel his stomach rumble. 

“Woah, someone call animal control, cause I think that annoying dog is back,” Sans playfully joked with a chuckle. “I could hear that from over here. And keep in mind, I’m the one closer to the kitchen right now.”

“I… don’t suppose you have any ideas for dinner, do you?” the famished child pondered as a soft shade of red covered his face. He began rubbing his stomach, as if trying to reduce its growl. “I mean, I could ask Papyrus and Undyne and see if-”

“Nah, I’d leave ‘em be for now, kiddo. Once those two start, it’s really hard to get them to stop.” Sans reassured, quickly putting up a hand in protest. He slowly rose from the sofa and smiled as he put a hand on Frisk’s shoulder. “Luckily for you, I happen to have an idea. There’s one place I always like to go when I can’t get any food here. What do you say we head out now before things get worse?”

“Okay, sure!” Frisk answered, relieved at the prospect of an edible dinner. “Although, I should probably let Undyne know I’m not going to be here. She’s supposed to take me back home after dinner.”

“Hey, no problem. I can do that for ya too.” said Sans with a smile. “Consider it a thanks for coming over and hanging out. Plus, now I have an even better excuse than usual to leave these two alone.”

The young, hungry child gave his generous friend another tight embrace, grateful for his kindness. After letting go, he quickly zipped up his backpack and swung it over his shoulders. Sans turned around and tried to get his brother and Undyne’s attention, a task much easier said than done. 

“Hey guys…” he started. The two energetic chefs couldn’t hear him over the sound of metal utensils banging against pots and pans. “Yo! Pap… Undyne… you two listening?” he shouted. Still no response. The lazy skeleton sighed and shook his head. 

Frisk walked up beside Sans and gave him a look suggesting maybe he should try getting their attention next. Instead, Sans raised his left hand and turned to wink at Frisk. For a brief moment, his left eye rapidly flashed between blue and yellow. Then, all at once, the cacophony of chaos from the kitchen concluded as everything froze in place. Several solids and liquids were floating in mid air, and many of the metal utensils were softly hovering over the stove and countertop, including a kitchen knife Undyne was about to bring down on a soft tomato. After a few moments of silence, Papyrus quickly turned around. 

“Sans! What are you doing?!” the head chef screamed in frustration. “Can’t you see we’re trying to-”

“Yeah, I know Pap,” Sans quickly retorted. “I’ve been trying to get you two’s attention. Don’t worry, I’m not trying to sabotage your cooking escapades here. I’m just letting you know that Frisk is dying of hunger over here and it’s doesn’t look like dinner’s gettin’ served any time soon. So he and I are gonna head out for some grub. Capiche?” 

“Oh, well why didn’t you say so!” Papyrus replied, realizing his brother wasn’t pulling another cruel prank. “I’m sure if you two wait for a bit, Undyne will have something ready in no time! We’re almost done here. Now please, can I have my things back now?”

Before Sans or Frisk could protest, Undyne suddenly cut in. “Actually… you two had better go. We made a pretty big mess here, and I can safely say dinner ain’t happening before you need to get home, Frisk. Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay, I understand,” Frisk reassured with a smile. “You and Papyrus can keep hanging out, and Sans and I will go out to eat. He already volunteered to take me home too.” 

“Oh!” Undyne replied. She quickly glanced at Sans in surprise, who gave her a quick thumbs up. “Well then, I guess that’s fine then. Just make sure you get back before Toriel starts going on a wild goose chase for you!”

Frisk giggled and walked towards his bestie to give her a quick good-bye hug, who accepted it with enthusiasm, lifting the young child off the floor.

“But hey, don’t forget about tomorrow, squirt!” she exclaimed. “I want to see you bright and bushy eyed for your big day! And for crying out loud, give those legs some rest! Trust me, you’re gonna need it.” 

“Indeed!” said Papyrus enthusiastically. “I have a great idea for your party tomorrow, Frisk! But it must remain a surprise until then! I wouldn’t want to spoil anything! Nyeh heh heh!” 

“Oh yeah, speaking of which…” Sans slyly sneered. He quickly lowered his left hand, allowing gravity to send all the floating ingredients and utensils towards the ground. 

“Sans!!” cried Papyrus. 

“Heh heh, sorry bro. Guess I’m not trained to handle this stuff like you are,” the prankster playfully remarked. “Anyway, we better get going. Have fun, you two. Don’t set the sofa on fire again.” 

“Hey, that was only one time!” Papyrus argued as Sans and Frisk made their way towards the second floor. The stairs were located slightly to the left of the front door, and both brothers got an entire floor to themselves, albeit a very small one. 

“Hey Sans… do you think we’re gonna make it in time?” Frisk wondered with concern. “It’s already getting pretty late. Also, do you know where we’re going?”

Sans chuckled as he opened the door to him room, revealing a black, empty expanse. “Don’t worry, kiddo. I know a shortcut.” 

\-- 

The inky black void seemed to gravitate towards the two before they passed the threshold. Frisk could never quite fully explain how Sans’ “shortcuts” worked, despite having experienced them twice in the Underground. As the two entered the room, Frisk looked behind him and noticed the entryway had disappeared. He started into the darkness, as if his eyes were closed tight. 

Moments later, he felt Sans grab a hold of his arm as a sudden wind swept past them, its source unknown. It started as a light gust, but continued to grow more powerful until it was a hurling gale. The young child lifted his arms to his face and blinked once, then twice, and then once more before completely shielding his face from the blast. Mixed with the howling in his ears was his skeletal friend’s voice. 

“And here we are. We made pretty good time, huh?” Sans said unphased. 

Immediately, the howling noise cut off and the gale force winds disappeared, as if a jet engine was able to stop functioning on a dime. Frisk slowly pulled his arms away from his face and opened his eyes. He was back in the integrated city, standing right outside the town’s park with Sans. The sky above them was beginning to make its daily transition from day to dusk, and a few pink clouds floated above their heads. The streetlights untouched by the setting sun’s rays began their nightly routine, illuminating the sidewalks and streets for playful children and their families. 

“I… I’ll never understand how you do that” Frisk admitted, still dazed by his friend’s peculiar mode of transportation. 

“Heh. Maybe I’ll get to telling you about it one day,” Sans joked, patting the young child’s back and ruffling his hair. “It’s actually a really interesting story. But for now, we need to get some grub before we both pass out here.”

The two made their way across the city’s main street, looking both ways before quickly jogging to the other side. Sans led the way towards their destination, with Frisk following close behind. After walking north for a few minutes and passing some clothing stores, the two arrived at their dining place for the night: 

**GRILLBY'S RESTAURANT AND BAR**

The building was quite catching to the eye, especially at nighttime. However, unlike Mettaton’s gaudy and overabundant use of sequins and sparkles to grab the attention of a passerby, Grillby focused on making the exterior look like an old-fashioned 1920’s-style restaurant, which stood out quite a bit from the modern design of its surrounding competitors. And it definitely seemed to be working; as the two approached the entrance, Frisk peered through the windows to see several tables occupied with groups of both monsters and humans alike. 

“Old Grillbz certainly didn’t take too long to make his mark after he got to the surface,” Sans explained, amused by Frisk’s curious looks. “This place seems to get busier and busier everyday. Makes it a little bit hard to get some peace and quiet, but it’s not all bad.” 

Various noisy conversations could be heard as Frisk and Sans entered the waiting area. The restaurant’s 1920’s theme was just as prevalent on the inside as the outside; the ceilings were adorned with artistic patterns that surrounded beautiful chandeliers, all lit with real candles, giving the restaurant a warm, orange tint. Right in the middle of the main dining area was the bar, with various patrons seated on all four sides. Grillby could be seen serving them, his bright aura quickly and graciously moving back and forth as he served his guests. 

Suddenly, the sound of smooth jazz filled the room, and everyone’s attention shifted towards the back of the main dining hall. A concert stage, just big enough to hold a big swing band, was fully illuminated as various musicians entertained guests with their performance. 

“Ah, good. At least we have some nice tunes tonight,” Sans muttered under his breath. “That teen comedian that keeps coming around here still needs some work before he makes it big time. Needs to learn that good comedy goes beyond just winter puns.”

“Says the skeleton who can’t get enough of his jokes,” retorted Frisk with a smirk.

“Hey come on, you gotta give me more credit than that,” the pun-loving comedian said with a shrug. “At least I’m prepared with some variety whenever I perform. And I always save the best for you and Papyrus. Consider it a gift.” 

Frisk rolled his eyes and folded his arms onto of a railway separating the entrance from the dining area, resting his chin as he listened to the relaxing music. He cherished the moment as one of the first times in the last few days he had been able to relax. _Hopefully the food will be just as good as the environment,_ he thought to himself. 

A few minutes passed before a familiar face approached him and Sans, ready to show them to their table. She was wearing her traditional dress, with several holes in the side to accommodate her six arms. 

“Ahuhuhuhu~” Muffet chuckled as she noticed Frisk. “What a surprise to see you again, my deary! It was so nice of Sans to bring you here tonight!”

“Well, Papyrus and Undyne decided to start cooking again, and… well, you know how it is.” Sans explained with a sigh. 

“Oh yes, I’m quite aware by now, deary~,” replied the spider waitress, raising one of her hands to her mouth as she let out a high-pitched chuckle. “But of course, you know I don’t mind seeing you so often. Especially when you bring such dignified guests!”

Frisk’s smiled nervously as his face began to turn red, knowing she was referring to his administrative duties as an ambassador. Muffet let out another high-pitched chuckle at his reaction before being cut off by Sans. 

“Yeah, it’s good to see you too, Muffet. Now with all due respect, can we get to the table before Frisk becomes a skeleton like me?” he said jokingly. 

After curtseying to them, Muffet grabbed two menus and led them through the main dining area, navigating between tables, chairs and various waitresses and waiters. They ended up at a two- seated table placed between the concert stage and the bar in the center of the room. The tables and chairs were made of a polished red wood that looked very sturdy looking, with the latter being cushioned for a relaxing experience. The outer walls were decorated with paintings of various city monuments and nature scenes.

“Now, what would you two like to drink?” Muffet inquired. “Soft drinks? Coffee? Or perhaps you would like to try our new spider cider recipe? I make it myself. Surely you remember if from the Underground, yes?”

“That’s okay, maybe another time,” Frisk politely responded. “I think I’ll just have some chocolate milk please.” 

Before Muffet could ask Sans what he wanted, the quirky skeleton was already unscrewing the cap to the ketchup bottle sitting in the middle of the table, much to Muffet’s displeasure. 

“Ah. Right. I… forgot that you’re always covered, Sans,” she said, trying to retain her composure. She turned back towards Frisk, “Well then, I’ll be off with your milk in a jiffy, deary~!” The young waitress quickly scampered off towards the kitchen as Sans slammed the bottle down on the table, making it vibrate. A small stream of red flowed down the side of his mouth before he brought his hand up to catch it. Frisk couldn’t help but laugh at his behavior. 

“Trust me kid, anything’s better than having that cider. I don’t know about you, but having tons of insects crawling around you isn’t quite refreshing to me before a meal,” he said bluntly. The young child couldn’t help but agree as they reclined in their seats and continued to listen to the soothing jazz tunes from the band. 

“Although, to be fair, I don’t remember your food being that much more appetizing back in the Underground,” Frisk admitted. 

“Meh. Everyone’s a critic,” Sans replied shrugging. He took another swig from the ketchup bottle. “Especially humans. One of the hardest things Grillby had to get over was making food that humans enjoyed. It took him a few months, but somehow he figured it out.” He raised his arms and swayed them back and forth. “And now look at this place! He’s easily one of the most popular restaurants in town.” 

“Do you think that’s why Papyrus is still having trouble with his cooking? Because humans just don’t like his kind of food?” Frisk wondered. 

“Oh I’m sure that has plenty to do with it,” Sans admitted, lowering his arms. “But Papyrus also has a… unique methodology when it comes to his cooking. One that really can’t be matched by anyone else. Plus, right now it’s more of a way for him and Undyne to hang out and bond rather than an actual profession he could pursue.”

“You mean he doesn’t make money from his cooking?” said Frisk with a confused look.

“Nah,” replied Sans with a hearty laugh. “He helps Undyne out at her school in the monster city where she lives with Alphys. It’s a long travel time, but you know Pap; once he sets his mind on something, it’s hard to get him to stop.” He leaned back further in his chair and smiled at Frisk. “And frankly, that’s why I haven’t told him to give up cooking yet. Because I know he’s trying hard. And believe it or not, he really is getting better, even if it’s not obvious at first.”

“So that’s why you come here and eat instead of telling Papyrus to stop? That’s really sweet,” Frisk said, touched by his friend’s words. 

“That’s what brothers are for, right?” responded Sans nonchalantly. “Besides, he’s gonna need to teach me one day so that way I can finally have the full approval from my one and only human pal.”

Briefly taken aback by the statement, Frisk quickly reached across the table and put his hand on top of his friend’s. 

“I do appreciate you, I promise!” he said frantically. “I didn't mean to make you think that I-”

“Woah, woah there. Take it easy, kiddo. I was just messing with ya. What made you think I was being serious?” Sans wondered. 

Frisk quickly withdrew his hand and sank into his seat without giving an answer. Soon after, Muffet returned with a tall glass of chocolate milk and set it in front of him. He slowly unwrapped his utensil setup and put the napkin on his lap. As he began to sip from the glass, Muffet withdrew her notebook, ready to hear what they wanted for their main course. 

“Uh… I think we’ll just go with the standard burger tonight, Muffet,” said Sans, still looking at his disgruntled friend. “And throw in some fries with that.” 

The spider waitress nodded as she wrote their order down quickly. “It’ll be right out, dearies~” she assured them. As she turned to make her way back to the kitchen, Sans leaned forward towards Frisk who was avoiding eye contact with him. 

“Hey, kiddo… what’s eatin’ ya?”

\-- 

The smooth jazz came to an end as the band took a short break to refresh themselves at the bar. The soothing atmosphere from the flickering candles was soon replaced by familiar, artificial lighting from the electrical ceiling fixtures, drowning the patrons in a much brighter environment. With a snap of his fingers, Grillby lowered the intensity of the candles’ flames, hoping they would last longer before having to tediously replace them. 

Frisk continued staring into the distance, trying to look interested in the nature paintings surrounding him on the walls. One particular frame that hung closest to the table depicted Mt. Ebott during a sunset, surrounded by pink clouds and bathed in golden light. The detail was remarkable, even from across the room. The noise from the other patrons began to diminish as his mind began to wander. 

“Wow, no response to my jokes either? This doesn’t look good…” Sans whispered with concern. 

Realizing he couldn’t ignore his friend any longer, the distraught child closed his eyes and slowly turned towards Sans, who was looking at him curiously. 

“It’s… it’s nothing,” he lied. “It’s just been a really long day today, meeting with everyone and hanging out. My legs have been sore too, which didn’t help when Undyne wanted to go to the park.”

“So how come you didn’t just wait for another weekend then?” inquired Sans, leaning back in his seat. “School’s ending soon, right? And I don’t think Toriel’s gonna give you homework over the summer or anything.”

Instead of giving a direct answer, Frisk suddenly remembered he hadn’t given Sans his invitation for the party. He quickly unzipped his backpack and pulled out the last envelope, its front littered with cartoon bones of various shapes and sizes. Next to Sans’ name was a picture of a hot dog. 

“Ah, my most successful product,” the quirky skelton remarked as he grabbed the invitation from his friend. “They were a pretty… hot item back in the day.” 

After slapping his hand to his forehead, Frisk could faintly hear a drumroll among the patron’s cacophony. He turned around to see the band’s drummer holding up his sticks at the drumset with a broad smile on his face. Sans smiled back and gave him a quick thumbs up. 

“See? Comedy gold. I didn’t even know he was still up on stage,” Sans said with a chuckle. Frisk rolled his eyes and smiled as his pun-loving friend slowly read the letter. 

“Ah, I gotcha,” he muttered while his eyes scanned back and forth. “So this is why you wanted to see everyone. Gettin’ a big shindig prepared for tomorrow, huh?” 

“I thought it would be a good way to get everyone together again,” Frisk explained. “It’s been months since we’ve all had a chance to be together.”

“Well, I guess it would be pretty hard to reschedule everything now, huh?” Sans asked rhetorically, placing the letter off to the side and taking another swig from his ketchup bottle. “Especially since I’m sure you’ve been lookin’ forward to this for a while. I suppose you gave Undyne and Alphys their invitations earlier today, and hopefully Toriel is in the know.”

Frisk nodded as he nervously looked away. “You, uh… forgot about Asgore. I invited him too.”

“Woah, seriously? How did you manage that?” Sans asked, his eye sockets widened in surprise. 

Frisk let out a heavy sigh and leaned back in his chair as he explained everything that had happened the day before. He told Sans everything, from sneaking out of Toriel’s house to being rescued by Undyne to get him back home. As he told the story, his friend continued to lean towards him, looking more and more intrigued. 

“And now Undyne has his invitation, and she said he’ll get it tonight,” Frisk said, finishing his story. “I sure hope she gets back before he falls asleep.”

Sans didn’t comment at first, still processing everything his friend had told him. Finally, he sat back and folded his arms. 

“Well, all I can really say is I never expected to hear you go against Toriel like that,” he said. “If she ever caught wind of what happened, I can’t imagine what she would say. I guess that’s what’s been buggin’ you all night, huh?”

Frisk wrapped his arms around his abdomen and frowned, overcome with grief as he thought about lying to his loving mother. A few moments later, Muffet returned with a silver platter and placed their hamburgers and fries in front of them. After making sure they didn’t need anything else, she quickly moved on to her next table. Still feeling depressed, the young child slowly reached for the ketchup bottle and prepared his burger as Sans continued to recline in his chair, leaving his meal untouched. After a few minutes of silence, the young child looked up at his friend with grief. 

“I guess I wasn’t thinking straight when I did it,” he said glumly. “I just wanted to see everyone together again, being friends and enjoying themselves.” 

Sans nodded slightly. “Well, that’s not a bad goal, I suppose. I’m also pretty surprised that Torel decided to go along with it, considering how much… tension there still is after all this time. Goes to show how much she cares about you.”

Frisk tried to smile, but the more he thought about Toriel, the more he felt awful for lying to her. He took a few bites from his burger to satiate his aching stomach. After wiping some stray ketchup from his cheek, the young child looked back at his friend, who hadn’t budged an inch. 

“Sans…” he said quietly. “Do you think… I made the wrong decision? Inviting Asgore to Toriel’s house?”

The relaxed skeleton thought for a moment before letting out a long breath. “That’s a tough order to fill, Frisk. I don’t know if I’m really the one who can answer that for sure. You know me; I tend to stay out of these situations. It’s better for everyone if I don’t get too involved.” He leaned forward and looked Frisk straight in the eye. “But you’re not me. And that’s good, because I like being me. And you should like being you. Of course, I may not always see eye to eye socket with you on everything. But if we did, all those monsters wouldn’t have been set free, right?”

Frisk certainly couldn’t argue with that. The painting of Mt. Ebott caught his eye once again, and he began to recall all the events that took place in the Underground, both the good and the bad, the funny and the terrifying. 

“As for Toriel and Asgore…” continued Sans. “From what I know about them, whatever drove them apart happened a long time ago. It’s complicated, to put it simply. And I don’t know how much you and I can do about it now. These things take a while to heal.”

“Do you think they’ll ever talk to each other about it?” wondered Frisk.

“Who knows, kiddo?” Sans responded with a shrug. “That’s up to them.”

Upset by his answer, the young child sank back into his chair and took another few bites of his burger. Sans sighed and closed his eyes, frustrated that he couldn’t seem to improve his friend’s mood. 

“Listen: I know you really want everyone to be friends and get along, Frisk.” he continued, crossing his arms. “And like I said, without that attitude, none of us monsters would be here. That’s why they think you’re a great ambassador. But from what I’ve seen, trying to rush those two along would be even worse than just letting it go. Don’t forget that those two have a literal eternity ahead of them to sort this stuff out.”

“I guess,” replied Frisk quietly. He had forgotten about the partial immortality Asgore and Toriel were cursed with as boss monsters, preventing them from aging. “But that’s not really all that comforting.”

“The truth usually isn’t, buddy,” Sans bluntly replied. “But who knows? Maybe this party you’ve got going tomorrow will be the perfect opportunity for them to consider not taking several lifetimes to talk to each other. Maybe having you and your friends together is just what they need.”

A faint smile crept across the young child’s face. “You really think so?” he asked brightly. 

Sans chuckled and gave his friend a thumbs up. 

“You haven’t proven me wrong yet, kid. I’ve got no reason to believe otherwise.”

The jazz band soon returned to the stage, and the candles were reignited with a click of Grillby’s fingers to bring back the warm, relaxing environment. As the band began playing an upbeat swing song, Frisk and Sans finished the rest of their meals and finally relaxed to listen to the music. Their conversation soon switched to other light-hearted topics, such as Frisk’sexcitement for tomorrow’s party and Sans’ new business ventures. 

“Like I said before, selling food has been a lot harder here on the surface,” Sans admitted, his hands behind his head. “You guys sure are picky eaters.”

“What kind of stuff have you been trying to sell them?” asked Frisk, his head resting between his arms on the table. 

Sans lifted a hand and threw up his fingers as counted his new products. “Things like super hot french fries, which instead of using hot sauce, I just set them on fire. Those usually don’t last long, though. I’ve also tried selling vegetable pizza, but apparently that’s already been done. So I tried to spruce it up by placing the whole vegetable, fresh from the ground, on some cooked dough and selling it that way. Apparently you guys have some gripes about ‘artificial ingredients’, whatever that means.”

Frisk buried his head as he burst out laughing. Just trying to imagine his friend selling a round plate of dough with uncooked lettuce on top made his stomach hurt with joy. 

“Are you sure Undyne isn’t teaching you how to cook too?” he sarcastically wondered. 

“Nope, these are 100% my ideas. Don’t steal them from me, m’kay?” the silly skeleton replied with a wink. 

After a few minutes passed, Muffet returned to take their plates and give them a check for their order. “Thank you so much for dining with us this evening, dearies. We hope to see you soon again, ahuhuhu~”

Frisk waved goodbye to the waitress and grabbed his backpack as Sans pocketed the receipt. The two friends got up from their chairs and stretched before walking back towards the exit. Along the way, Sans took the receipt and held it up in front on Grillby so he could see it, signifying another addition to his tab. The bartender gave him a quick thumbs up before returning to his patrons. 

“Well, now that that’s all settled, we should get you home,” said Sans. He lifted up the sleeve of his sweater and looked at his bare wrist. “Seems like we’re running a bit late. Guess we’ll have to use a shortcut to get home.” 

Frisk threw his backpack around his shoulders once again and held onto his friend. A gust of wind blew past them as they stepped outside, and in the blink of an eye, they were gone. 

\-- 

No sooner than the moment they disappeared did the duo appear in front of Toriel’s home. The neighborhood was peaceful, with the only sounds coming from a few clicking crickets. The sun had now completely set, and a few patches of stars could be seen through the increasing cloud cover. The moon could also be seen, only one phase away from becoming a full moon. The natural light mixed with the artificial light from the street lamps and various homes, creating a spooky environment. Sans stepped forward and gave the front door a few sharp knocks. 

“Looks like we made good time again.” he said. 

A few moments passed before the door swung open and Toriel greeted them with a gleeful expression. Her kitchen apron had been put away a few hours prior, yet the smell of fresh food filled their nostrils as they stepped into the living room. 

“Oh! Hello there, Sans!” said Toriel in surprise. “I didn’t expect to see you here tonight. Where’s Undyne? I thought she was going to bring Frisk home.” 

“Eh, she got caught up with some cooking with my bro. So I decided to get some grub for the both of us. I hope that’s okay.” Sans explained. 

“Oh no, that’s quite alright,” Toriel replied with a smile. “Thank you so much for making sure Frisk got some dinner and got home safely. It’s so nice to see you again.”

“Pleasures all mine, Toriel,” reassured Sans, ruffling Frisk’s hair. “It’s the least I could do for him considering his big day tomorrow. You pumped?”

“Oh, yes!” she replied, putting her hands together in excitement. “I just finished making a whole batch of treats for tomorrow’s party. Unfortunately, it looks like it’ll have to be held inside. They’re expecting rain starting in the afternoon.”

“Well, I think it’ll run without a hitch,” said Sans. He caught Frisk’s attention and gave him a quick wink. “Well, I better head out. Gotta make sure Papyrus didn’t completely destroy the kitchen. I’ll see you two tomorrow.” Before he could leave, Frisk dropped his backpack on the living room floor and gave his skeleton friend a tight goodbye hug. 

“Thanks for listening to me at dinner. I feel a lot better now.” he said.

“That’s what I’m here for, kiddo,” Sans replied, returning his embrace. “Just remember to take it easy and relax tonight, okay? Sounds like you’ve had a long weekend so far. No matter what you decide to do, I’ll be rootin’ for ya.” 

After letting go, Sans gave a final wave before closing the door behind him, leaving Frisk and Toriel alone. A sudden wave of exhaustion washed over the young child as he picked up his backpack. Toriel stared at him for a moment before letting out a sigh. 

“So, did you have a great time today?” she asked. “Did you get a chance to give everyone their invitations for tomorrow?” 

Frisk nodded and gave a quick recap of everything that had happened with his friends. “Everyone really liked the drawings I put on their envelopes. Well, Papyrus didn’t say whether he did or not, but I’m sure he will.” 

“Did, um… did you give someone Asgore’s invitation?” Toriel nervously asked. 

“I gave it to Undyne,” replied Frisk, noticing her anxious expression. “She said she’ll give it to him tonight once she and Alphys get home.” 

After inhaling sharply, Toriel put on a forced smile and nodded. “Well then, tomorrow’s the big day then. You should get some rest; you must be exhausted after running through the city all day.”

She turned around and headed towards her reading chair without another word. Before she could sit down, she noticed Frisk following closely behind her, smiling at her sympathetically. He slowly wrapped his arms around her abdomen and held her close. 

“I love you, mom…” he said quietly. 

The former queen bit her lip, trying to hold back tears as she knelt down to return her adoptive child’s embrace. His words rang through her head as a few sad memories began to resurface. 

“I love you too, my child. More than you know. Sleep well…” she whispered. 

After holding each other for what seemed like several minutes, the two separated and Frisk made his way back to his room. Toriel sank into her reading chair, hoping her recipe book would help take her mind off of the past. Frisk, on the other hand, couldn’t stop thinking about the last few days as he replaced his green shirt and brown shorts with his favorite striped pajamas. His thoughts shifted back and forth between the good times and the bad times, hanging out with his friends while also lying to others and sneaking around behind their backs. As he laid in his bed, Sans’ words echoed in his head as he began to fall asleep. 

_I should be glad to be me,_ he thought. _Everyone says I’m a great ambassador. But how can I be when I can’t even help the ones I love the most?_

The nearly-full moon began to be covered by the clouds, shielding him from its light. As his consciousness slowly faded, the troubled child turned in his bed and looked out the window. And as he closed his eyes and dreamed about his party the next day, he was filled with determination.


	6. The Escape

_“My child…”_

_“Besties…”_

_“A great ambassador…”_

Frisk once again found himself surrounded in darkness. An unknown source of warmth surrounded him as the words of his friends echoed in his head. 

_“Without you, we wouldn’t be here...”_

_“You should be happy to be you… ”_

The young child tried to gather his bearings before realizing he was floating, his whole body unresponsive like a ragdoll. He strained to regain control. 

_“You are the future of humans and monsters…”_

He slowly opened his eyes, revealing a faint light above him. It felt so close, as if he could reach out and grab it. As he raised his arm, the light scurried away and his body began to fall, gravity dragging him down fast. His heart began racing in an instant as his front helplessly turned towards the ground. A flash of yellow filled his vision moments before he impacted the ground headfirst.

The sheets on Frisk’s bed went flying as he bolted upright in a panic. Heavy gasps filled his bedroom as he shuffled his arms around to make sure he was safe. The light from the moon outside was completely covered by clouds, surrounding him in darkness until his eyes began to adjust. Realizing he was back in the comfort of his room, his panting softened and he flopped back down onto his hot pillow, exhausted. He couldn’t relax for long, as his head began to ache. 

_“I must’ve been rolling over too much because of that dream,”_ he deduced. 

As the young child rubbed his temples, he slowly and begrudgingly rose from his bed. He headed towards the bathroom. The hardwood floor in the hallway had a few spots that creaked loudly, and over time Frisk had charted a path around them to keep his mother from waking up in the middle of the night. Toriel always kept her door open when she slept, which he could only assume was done so she could listen in case something went wrong. 

Much to his relief, the bathroom lights had a dimmer that kept him from cursing every morning for a rude awakening. After closing the door, he pulled out a small step-stool from under the sink so he could reach the sink knobs and see himself in the mirror. The warm water felt good against his face as he brought it up with his hands, making sure not to splash all over the place. After turning the water off and drying off with a towel, the young child looked at himself in the mirror. Dark circles were under his eyes. 

“At least my face is in one piece…” muttered Frisk with a chuckle, recalling his strange dream. 

As he continued to stare at the mirror, the encouraging words of his friends once again repeated over and over in his mind. Yet despite their optimistic tones, he couldn’t shake a deep feeling of depression and anger, which made his head hurt even more. 

_“It doesn’t make sense,”_ the exhausted child mused. _“How could I have saved everyone in the Underground, but I can’t even get mom and dad to meet together? Do they really hate each other that much?”_

The more he questioned himself, the harder Frisk clenched his stomach in grief as he slowly made his way out of the bathroom. He was so enveloped in thought that he wasn’t paying attention to his steps. His train of thought was cut off as a loud creaking sound erupted from beneath him. He recoiled his foot as if the boards were made of hot coals. 

An audible grunt soon came from Toriel’s room. Frisk quickly, yet carefully this time, navigated towards his room, pausing briefly to get a check on his mother. She slowly shuffled under her covers before settling on the other side of the bed, satisfied with the cool surface of her second pillow. Frisk let out a quiet sigh of relief and relaxed as he reached for his doorknob. 

_“Maybe I’m being too hard on myself,”_ Frisk considered as he entered his room. _“Sans was right; these things take time.”_ He paused at the side of his bed and stared out his window into the dead of night towards the mountains. _“But then, what about my promise? Will they ever be happy? I can’t let him down a second time…”_

His stomach ached as his head became filled with questions that seemed to have no answers, voices that made him happy and sad. He put his hands on the side of his head as he laid down once again and to focus on the only thing he could muster that could give him hope and rest.

 _“Tomorrow…”_ he concluded. _“No matter what happens, I’ll make sure that tomorrow will be better.”_ With a final thought of reassurance, his body went limp as he drifted back to sleep. 

\-- 

The nighttime hours soon passed by and were replaced by sunlight slowly creeping through the neighborhood before reaching Frisk’s bedroom window. Luckily for him, he was able to enjoy several hours of restful sleep before being rudely awoken once again. This time, however, the culprit was not streams of light, but instead a sharp knock at his door from his adoptive mother. 

“Frisk! Are you awake? Today’s the big day!” came Toriel’s voice from the other side of the door. 

Before Frisk could pry himself away from the comfort of his bed, the door opened and revealed his mother beaming at him in the hallway. She was wearing a short-sleeved purple shirt with a yellow sunflower embroidered on the right chest pocket, along with blue jeans. She also had a purple party hat strapped to her head, one of many she had purchased for the occasion. 

“Morning, mom,” said Frisk exhaustively, returning Toriel’s warm smile. After taking a few steps towards the door, Toriel suddenly and briskly walked over to him and lifted him off his feet. 

“Happy birthday, Frisk!” she exclaimed. “I know you’ve been looking forward to this for quite a while, and I can’t wait to enjoy it with you.” 

“Y-yeah, me too. Thanks,” he stuttered. He was used to warm embraces from Toriel most mornings, but this one made it feel like she would never let go. After recovering from the sudden whiplash, the young child freed his arms and returned the embrace as best he could. A few minutes passed before the two finally let each other go. 

“Well, you’d better get ready soon,” advised Toriel. “All your friends should be here in a little while. I’ll go make sure everything is prepared.” She knelt down and gave Frisk one last quick hug before hastily leaving the room, shutting the door behind her. 

Frisk breathed in deep before gathering his change of clothes for the day. As he walked towards the bathroom once more, he couldn’t help but smile as he heard his mother’s commotion from the living room and kitchen. It was clear to him that she wanted to make sure absolutely everything was perfect for him today. Closing the bathroom door behind him, he paused as the warmth from her embrace could still be felt. 

_“I’ve never seen her work this hard, not even with her school stuff,”_ he pondered. 

About another hour passed before Frisk was finished with his typical morning routine and ready to begin enjoying his birthday. He decided to wear his favorite blue and purple striped shirt with denim shorts for the occasion, a decision that he admitted was probably made through laziness more than anything else. It was a color combination that appealed to him more than any other. It also made him pretty easy to spot in a crowd. He walked out into the living room and peered out the window to prepare for the arrival of his friends. 

_“I wonder who will make it first?”_ he wondered. 

The minutes went by, yet the only thing that seemed to change was the sky above him. The bright morning sunlight was quickly masked by increasing cloud cover. As they became thicker and darker, the several groups of children playing outside slowly decreased until no one was left.

“Oh, it is quite a shame we couldn’t hold the party outside today.” came Toriel’s voice behind him. Frisk turned around to see her holding a silver bowl with a whisk stuck in it. “It’s actually quite a nice day outside right now. I hope everyone can get here before the rain begins.” 

Before the young child could respond, a timer shrilled from the kitchen and Toriel hurried back while continuing to whisk whatever was in her bowl. Frisk returned his attention to outside the window and pulled up a chair from the dining table to get comfortable. As the clouds continued to pass overby, he too wondered whether or not his friends would all get there on time. 

Sure enough, after another half hour had passed, Frisk quickly jumped out of his chair at the sight of two of his friends, who surprisingly turned out to be Sans and Papyrus. The two skeleton brothers looked the same as ever, with the exception of a single wrapped package under Papyrus’ arm. He looked as though he was telling a story to Sans, who was merely smiling and walking along with his hands in his pockets. As the two walked in front of the house, the young child quickly ran to the door and swung it open to let them in before it started raining. 

“Greetings Frisk!” Papyrus exclaimed, raising his unencumbered hand in the air. “It’s great to see you again! Happy birthing day!” 

“I think you mean ‘birthday’, Pap,” sighed Sans, bringing a hand up to his forehead. 

“Ah, right,” said Papyrus bashfully as he rubbed the back of his head. “Happy birthday Frisk! I hope you’re ready for japes and capers. For I, the Great Papyrus, will prove to you that I am the birthday party master!”

The young child couldn’t help but laugh as he wrapped his arms around his two skeletal friends to greet them. As Papyrus briskly entered the living room and greeted Toriel, Sans paused at the doorway and put a hand on Frisk’s shoulder. 

“Bet you’re surprised we got here this early, huh?” asked Sans rhetorically with a chuckle. “I didn’t even use a shortcut this time. You wouldn’t believe how happy Papyrus was to get here and show you what gift we brought you. Hopefully you find it just as exciting as he does.”

After courteously wiping his slippers on the mat, Sans entered the living room and greeted Toriel, who was just finishing her conversation with Papyrus. She directed the older brother towards the dining table to put down his gift as Frisk made his way back to the window to resume his watch. 

“Well then, Frisk! Perhaps you would like to see the extravagant gift we’ve gotten you for today!” said Papyrus, sitting down in a folding chair next to him. 

“I don’t think I’m supposed to open it until _everyone_ gets here,” explained Frisk. 

“Oh,” Papyrus replied glumly. “I guess that’s why you’re here then; to look out for everyone else. Do not fret, then! For I, _Party Master Papyrus_ , will assist you in your search! I will keep a watchful eye out for everyone just like you!” 

With that, the plucky skeleton jogged out the front door and began keeping a periodic watch from both sides of the sidewalk before Frisk could advise against it. He had to admit, though, that watching his goofy friend diligently keep watch was very entertaining. It was certainly better than the constant stream of bad puns being told between Sans and Toriel in the kitchen.

Several minutes passed before Papyrus’ persistent pattern was broken with excited flailing. Upon raising his head a little further, Frisk was able to make out Alphys and Undyne walking up the sidewalk from the direction of the monster city. As they came closer, Frisk could make out Undyne’s favorite black jacket with a red shirt underneath, along with blue denim jeans. Alphys was dressed just as casually with a blue pull-over shirt with matching pants. She had two packages under her arms. 

“Over here, Undyne!” signaled Papyrus from afar. “Quickly, before it begins to rain!”

Even from a distance, Frisk could see Undyne roll her eyes and call out to Papyrus. He quickly got up from his chair, eager to greet them and escape from Toriel and Sans’ battle of puns. As he stepped out of the house and walked towards Papyrus, Undyne ran up to him and caught him up from the side, squeezing him tightly.

“Fuhuhuhuhu!” cackled Undyne, giving Frisk a noogie. “Happy birthday, squirt! Now that I’m here, I get to show you how monsters celebrate!” 

“O-oh boy,” sighed Alphys nervously. “Maybe this time we can do that without getting complaints again? I’m not sure what humans consider ‘disturbing the peace’ quite yet, but I’m sure they wouldn’t appreciate things suddenly catching fire, right?” 

“Well, there’s only one way to find out!” screamed Undyne excitedly. She leaned down and let go of Frisk, who tried his best to regain composure after being tossed around by his bestie. 

“I don’t think that will be necessary, Undyne!” reassured Papyrus. “For you see, I have brought the ultimate of party games for all of us to enjoy, no rambunctious fire needed. I’m sure you will find it quite exciting!” 

“Alright, I’ll take you up on that offer, Papyrus,” Undyne replied slyly. “But if it’s isn’t great, then just know I’ll have to step in and make sure this party’s a total blowout!” 

A small drop of water hit Frisk on the nose as he gave Alphys a quick embrace. After the two let go, he eagerly led the new arrivals into the house with Papyrus following behind. Toriel and Sans broke their joke streak to greet Alphys and Undyne while Frisk planted himself next to the window. 

“Come now, Frisk!” said Papyrus. “Let’s get this party started! Why are you still sitting at the window?” 

Before he could give an answer, Frisk suddenly jumped up from his chair and gasped excitedly. His face immediately lit up like a lamp as he sighted a familiar figure slowly making its way towards the house. He jumped down and ran out the front door, despite the rain beginning to fall more consistently. As he neared the sidewalk, he turned towards the figure and began to wave. 

“Howdy Frisk!” came Asgore’s voice. “I’m sorry that I’m a bit late. I had some trouble sleeping last night.”

The former monster king was beaming with excitement as he picked up the pace to greet Frisk. He was wearing a pink tropical shirt with blue jeans, and he had a small wrapped package held in his right hand. As he approached, Frisk noticed that he seemed a little more disheveled than before, which he assumed was because of said lack of sleep. Nevertheless, the young child began to walk towards Asgore with hands extended and they greeted each other with a tight embrace. 

“I’m so glad you could make it,” said Frisk happily. “I don’t care if you’re late; I’m just happy you’re here.” 

“Thank you, Frisk,” replied Asgore, deeply moved by the young child’s greeting. “I’m glad I could make this even more special for you.” 

The two briskly jogged towards the house as the drops of rain began to develop into a light shower. When they entered, everyone else’s conversations were cut short as they turned around to greet the former king. 

“Heeeey, glad you could make it!” Undyne exclaimed, wrapping her arm around Asgore’s shoulders. “I was starting to think you wouldn’t make it before getting drenched.” 

“Good to see you, Your Majesty!” said Alphys in surprise. “I wish I would’ve known you were coming. You could have come with Undyne and I.”

“Oh, that’s quite alright, Alphys,” reassured Asgore with a smile. “I needed more time to prepare this morning anyway. I wanted to get an appropriate gift for Frisk, and it took longer than I thought.” 

“Huzzah, more gifts!” shouted Papyrus. “I must warn you though, your Majesty. I do believe I have one that will really bring the house down, so to speak!”

“Yeah, yeah, we know Pap,” replied Sans. “You’ve said that every time someone new shows up.” He turned his attention to Asgore. “Also, afternoon to ya, Your Majesty. Glad to see you here. Dining table’s where the gifts go.” 

The king nodded, overwhelmed by everyone’s uplifting greetings. As he placed his small wrapped package on the dining table, Toriel slowly emerged from the kitchen and they both noticed each other at the same time. A few silent moments passed before Toriel cleared her throat. 

“Hello Asgore,” she quietly greeted.

“Afternoon, Toriel,” he nervously returned. 

“It’s… I’m glad to see you could make it here for Frisk’s party,” she stammered. “You’re a little late, but at least you made it before the rain started getting bad.”

“O-of course!” he said, trying to keep his cool. “I wouldn’t have missed this for anything else, I assure you.” 

Toriel nodded in acknowledgment as the rest of her guests listened intently, not moving a muscle, whether they had them or not. The only one who reacted was Frisk, who switched his attention back and forth between the two, preparing to interrupt if needed. Luckily, after a few more moments of awkward silence, Toriel sighed and smiled at her guests. 

“Well then. Now that everyone is here, I should get back to preparing lunch,” she said. “Feel free to make yourselves comfortable while I make sure everything is ready.”

With that, the former queen quickly turned around and headed back to the kitchen. Asgore closed his eyes and breathed in deep as everyone else began to gather around in a circle to chat. As he tried to regain his composure, he felt a small hand wrap around his own. He looked down at Frisk giving him a smile to reassure him that everything was alright. 

“Thank you, Frisk,” Asgore sighed. “I think I’m off to a pretty good start so far. Now, let’s do what your mother says and enjoy this party together.” He held the young child’s hand tightly as they found their seats among their friends and sat together for the rest of the afternoon. 

\-- 

The hours passed by quickly as Frisk and his friends enjoyed each other’s company. Several months had passed since they had all gathered together in one place, and they were all curious about each other’s activities since they had left the Underground. A circle of chairs had formed in the living room; some were sitting in the dining table’s chairs while others were relaxed on plastic folding chairs. As lunch was being prepared, Frisk mostly sat back and relaxed as he listened to each of his friends’ stories.

“So, Your Majesty. What work have you been up to?” asked Sans. “You know, besides speaking with human executives and all that.” 

“Oh, I’ve mostly been working around the house,” replied Asgore. “By the way, you don’t have to call me ‘Your Majesty’ anymore if you don’t want to, Sans. The same goes for the rest of you if you wisht.” 

“Are you sure?” said Papyrus incredulously. “If I was blessed with such a prestigious title, I would never let myself be called anything else!” 

“No no, it’s fine,” reassured Asgore. “Besides, with everyone moving to the human cities, I’m not sure if I could be called much of a ruler anymore, right?” 

“Sure, but plenty of monsters still consider you their king,” chimed in Alphys. “I’ve heard it around town plenty of times.”

“Really?” Asgore responded in disbelief. “Well, like I said, I won’t require it anymore, so… you know, if don’t want to…”

“Stop bein’ so hard on yourself, big guy!” exclaimed Undyne, hoping to cheer him up. “You’ll still be the same to us no matter what people call you. Just don’t be surprised if you start hearing everyone call you Fluffybuns again!” 

The group erupted into laughter at the mention of the king’s infamous nickname. Even Asgore himself couldn’t help but chuckle. As their fit of giggling died down, Toriel appeared behind them with her hands covered in oven mitts, holding up two steaming plates. 

“Lunch is ready, everyone!” she happily announced. “I tried out a new recipe just for today, and I hope you all enjoy it.”

Seeing as the day was dedicated to him, Frisk was the first to receive his plate. The layout of food was split into halves; one side had a delicious looking pile of tortellini pasta, covered in tomato sauce and parmesan cheese, while the other half had various greens and vegetables mixed together with a deep red dressing. The young child never did like salad, but as he took his first bite, it wasn’t half bad. The dressing was actually a bit sweet, and it tasted like raspberries. 

“Wowie, you’ve really outdone yourself, Toriel!” Papyrus complimented excitedly. “I see you’ve decided to go with that recipe I offered to you a few weeks ago!”

“Well, not all of it, actually,” admitted Toriel. “I wasn’t quite sure how escargot would fit in with the pasta, so I decided to replace it with salad topped off with the most unique dressing I could find.”

“Well, either way, it’s really delicious,” said Alphys, wiping a stray spot of tomato sauce off her cheek.

The former queen couldn’t help but blush at all the wonderful compliments. As the plates were passed around, she was pleased to see their conversations replaced with silent feasting on her latest dish. After everyone was served, she collected her own plate and took a seat in her favorite reading chair by the fireplace. 

“We have an extra seat here for you, mom!” pointed out Frisk, raising his arm towards the pile of folded chairs in the corner. 

“Oh that’s quite alright, my child,” Toriel replied quickly. “I would, but I have to keep an eye on the kitchen. I still have something cooking in there and I want to make sure nothing goes wrong.” 

The young child lowered his arm as his smile slowly faded. He stared at his partially empty plate and resumed eating while Sans snuck a glance towards Toriel, his eye socket raised where his brow normally would’ve been. Before he could protest, the kitchen timer let out another shrill whine with Toriel answering its call posthaste, leaving her plate of food untouched. Following her example, he placed his own full plate on the floor and got up from his chair. 

“You know what could make this dish better though?” he rhetorically asked out loud. “Ketchup. You got any, kiddo?”

The young child nodded, paying little attention to his friend as he continued to stare at his plate. Sans glanced at Asgore, who was trying his best to start up a conversation with Frisk to lighten the mood. They briefly looked at each other, and Sans gave him a quick wink before turning towards the kitchen. 

_“Well, she wasn’t lying,”_ Sans observed as he peered inside. Sure enough, Toriel was keeping herself busy running back and forth between the refrigerator, stove and sink to prepare a new dish for her guests. As he took a few steps in, she noticed him while making her way towards the fridge again. 

“Oh! Hello Sans,” she started. “Can I help you with-”

“Just looking for some ketchup,” he responded, quickly interrupting her. “You know me, can’t get enough of the stuff.”

“Er, right,” Toriel stammered, confused by his choice of topping. The quirky skeleton opened the fridge and rifled through its contents before finding the bottle a few moments later. As he emerged, he noticed Toriel had gone back to stirring a pot on the stove. 

“Frisk really dug into that dish,” he lied, leaning up against the fridge. “Never seen him that enthusiastic when he tries my cooking.” 

“I would hope so!” responded Toriel brightly, still engrossed with her work. “I made it especially for him today. I’m sure you know how much he’s been looking forward to his party.” 

“Oh I know it,” he assured her. “He seemed really excited to see everyone get together.” He paused for a moment to see if Toriel’s attention would shift, but to no avail. “But you know, I think there’s something that could make it even better.”

“Well, that’s what I’m working on right now!” Toriel excitedly replied. 

“I’m not talking about the food, Toriel,” Sans bluntly replied with a sigh. “I’m talking about you.”

That was enough to grab her attention. The adoptive mother immediately froze in place, unsure how to properly respond to such an accusation. She stammered for a bit, trying to come up with a good excuse for her negligence before Sans put up a bony hand to stop her. 

“Hey, I’m not here to judge,” he reassured her. “I’m sure you’re working hard; I wouldn’t know because I don’t cook that often. I’m just saying: things have been pretty good so far, but they could be a whole lot better. And you know it.”

With that, Sans screwed off the bottle cap and took a swig before exiting the kitchen, leaving Toriel alone with her thoughts. She breathed deeply as she wondered how many of her other guests could see right through her ruse. 

_“He’s right,”_ she admitted. _“I can’t keep this up all day. Someone else is bound to notice at some point, if they haven’t already.”_

\-- 

After throwing a couple more ingredients into the pot, Toriel stirred all its contents together before snapping her fingers to start a magical fire underneath. She wound her timer back up and placed her oven mitts on the counter before returning to the living room. At this point, everyone had finished their meals and were comfortably relaxing in their chairs. 

“Frisk dear… now that everyone is finished with lunch, I think now would be a great time to open your gifts!” she suggested. 

The young child immediately perked up at the idea and ran towards the dining table enthusiastically, his smile beaming brighter than ever. Slowly but surely, all his other friends got up from their chairs and formed a circle around him as he took a green and yellow striped party hat and placed it on his head. There were several wrapped packages of various colors and designs. Despite his instincts telling him to start with the largest gift, he instead grabbed the smallest box he could find, wrapped in blue paper with reflective silver stars.

“Oh, oh! That one’s from me!” cried Alphys excitedly. 

The box was a little heavy given its size. Frisk wasn’t one to carefully converse wrapping, and soon the gift was exposed for everyone to see. It was a brand new cell phone, which Frisk recognized from various advertisements plastered across the human city. Some of his friends had already owned it, and were quick to boast about it at school. 

“I really hope you like it, Frisk!” Alphys said, her hands clasped together. “I stood in line for a while just to see if they still had those in stock at the store. It takes a little bit of time to set it up, so maybe you and I can hang out next week and get that done!”

“Sure! Thank you so much Alphys,” replied Frisk, moving over to give her a hug of appreciation. The next gift was much taller than the first, wrapped in bright red paper with a flame pattern. 

“Fuhuhu! Alright, time for my gift!” said Undyne triumphantly. “Get ready to have your mind blown, birthday boy!”

The wrapping soon came off to reveal a plain-looking cardboard box underneath. The edges were covered in several layers of packaging tape, as if its contents would explode with the slightest irritation. 

“Er, yeah, sorry about all the tape,” said Undyne bashfully. “I may have gotten a little carried away.” 

After cutting the tape open with a serrated knife, Frisk opened the box to reveal a very large foam sword. Frisk could tell just by looking at it that the blade itself was almost as tall as he was. The handle was also rather eye-catching; bright blue with yellow stars spread out with a bright red plastic gemstone in the center where it met the blade. 

“Now I finally have a sparring partner!” shouted Undyne excitedly. “I’ve tried teaching Papyrus, but he’s been busy with his cooking stuff. So now you can take his place!”

Frisk merely nodded as he grasped the oversized sword with one hand. Despite being made of mostly foam, its weight was still considerable enough to drag him down the floor when he attempted to lift it. After regaining his balance and leaning his new sword against the table using both hands, the young child shared another hug of appreciation with his gift giver before deciding which present to open next. His eyes focused on a white medium sized box near the edge of the table, wrapped with a bright red bow. 

“That one is from me!” said Asgore. “I don’t want to brag, but I did everything I could to make it special.”

The box was much easier to unwrap than the others, though Frisk was a little sad to undo such elegant ribbon work. Nevertheless, he opened the flaps on top and peered inside to find a tea set, complete with a kettle painted in royal purple. 

“If you take off the kettle lid, there’s something else in there.” Asgore pointed out.

Sure enough, after carefully lifting the kettle from the box, Frisk could hear something moving around inside. He removed the lid and was suddenly hit with a strong, familiar smell. It was filled with tea bags filled with some kind of powder. Frisk removed one of them as Asgore smiled brightly. 

“It’s my favorite golden flower tea!” he explained. “Undyne had told me that you had a taste for that specific kind of tea, so I figured there was no better gift than your own set to make it. Oh, and take a look at the cup too!” 

After replacing the single tea bag, Frisk reached into the box and pulled out a ceramic cup, also painted royal purple. It was pretty big for Frisk, though he figured his hands would grow eventually to hold it properly. What caught his eye, however, was the design pattern on the side of the cup; a hand painted red heart, along with his name in elegant cursive writing. 

“I was always told growing up that tea was good for the soul,” said Asgore, leaning towards Frisk in his chair. “And while I’m sure it was just a saying for some, I found there were a lot of times when drinking tea would relax me during stressful times. And with how powerful your soul is, I’m hope it will do the same for you.”

The room was silent as the king’s words reverberated in Frisk’s head. He could barely keep back tears as he quickly got up and hugged him, tighter than ever. The two shared an extended embrace while everyone else looked on and smiled. The silence was so abrupt that Toriel emerged from the kitchen briefly to see what had happened, just after Asgore and Frisk had let go of each other. 

“There’s also another tea cup in there for you to share with others,” said Asgore, wiping a tear from his eye. “I gave you a lot, so perhaps you could share it with your friends or your mother if she’d like.”

Frisk nodded and turned towards the kitchen before Toriel could return to her work. Not wanting to seem rude, she looked at Asgore a gave him a slight smile. 

“That’s a very kind gesture, Asgore,” she remarked. “I just hope Frisk knows how to properly make tea.”

“I don’t think it’ll be very hard,” replied Asgore. “After one or two times, it’s pretty easy to remember.” 

“I suppose,” she sighed. With that, she took her leave and returned to her work in the kitchen. Meanwhile, Frisk once again took his new tea cup in his hands and continued to stare at the design pattern. The room was silent for a few moments before his focus was interrupted by Papyrus. 

“Come now, Frisk! You still have one more gift to open!” he said hastily. “And even though I will admit it’s not as nice as a new tea set, I’m sure you’ll be impressed with it!” 

Frisk had almost forgotten about Papyrus and Sans’ gift, still sitting in the middle of the table. He was surprised that he missed it considering the strange wrapping. The box was lazily covered with scotch tape and paper towels, with a crude drawing of himself next to the bow. 

“I thought I did pretty great with the wrapping, honestly,” said Sans. “I figured I’d handle that since Papyrus came up with the idea for the gift.”

After easily tearing through the “wrapping”, Frisk quickly figured out that is was a party game. The title was in big, bold letters strewn across the front of the box: 

CORKSCREW - The game where there’s a twist every turn!

Below the title was a picture depicting a current session of the game. There were four human children playing, three of which were spread out in different ways on a mat with multicolored circles. The fourth child had a wheel in his hand with an arrow pointing to a color. 

“I saw a commercial for this on TV, and I knew it would make the ultimate gift for your party today!” exclaimed Papyrus. “It’s meant for three people to play, but I figured we could all join in and make it even more chaotic and fun!”

“Aw yeah, I’d totally be down for that!” said Undyne enthusiastically. “This looks like it’ll be crazy fun.”

“Wait!” shouted Asgore. “Before we do…” He called for Toriel, who came out in a hurry. “Toriel, did you happen to have a gift for Frisk before we started playing this game?” 

“Of course I have a gift,” she replied a bit indignantly. “But it will have to wait for a bit. It should be done once you’re all finished.”

“So you can’t come play with us?” said Frisk sadly. 

“I’m sorry Frisk, but I really must make sure this turns out perfectly,” she replied. “Rest assured, I guarantee it will be worth the wait.”

The kitchen timer let out another shrill, beckoning Toriel to return to her distractions. The rest of Frisk’s friends encouraged him to join them in a quick round of Corkscrew while his last gift was being prepared.

“You’ll enjoy this game quite a bit, Frisk!” reassured Papyrus. “It’s a game about strategy and dominance, asserting your control over the map to seize victory over your opponents!” 

“Or it could be about getting to know your friends better,” said Sans with a wink.

“Sans, you’re not helping!” Papyrus retorted. “Just for that, you will be in charge of turning the wheel, since you don’t find it all that exhilarating.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time,” Sans remarked, opening the box and extracting the turn wheel. “Be sure to have extra fun for me then.”

With that, the game was on as Frisk, Papyrus, Undyne and Asgore decided to play the first round. Alphys decided not to participate as she not only wasn’t a fan of the game itself, but also wanted to tinker with Frisk’s new phone to see all of its new features. After about an hour had passed, they were on their third round of play, nearing the end as they became a tangled mess. Undyne had the advantage, strategically winding herself around Asgore and Frisk to reach across the board. 

“Alrighty, Papyrus. If you can get this last one, you’ll win the game,” Sans announced. After giving the wheel one last spin, he announced his brother’s objective. “Right hand on red.” 

“Nyeh heh heh! That’s quite the tricky one,” admitted Papyrus, who was just as awkwardly stretched across the map as Undyne. “But I will not be defeated so easily!” With that, Papyrus lifted his right hand and removed his head from his body, rolling it across the edge of the map to land it on the space he needed. 

“Oh no, no way Papyrus. That’s totally cheating!” Undyne shouted in frustration. “Sans, aren’t you going to call him out on that?!”

“I would, but technically he used his right hand to roll his head, so I guess it counts,” he replied with a shrug. 

“Oh yeah?! Well how about _this_ then?” Undyne retorted smugly. Immediately, she untangled herself from everyone else, causing Frisk and Asgore to fall on the floor. She quickly scooped up Papyrus’ head and ran around the room with it while Papyrus’ body gave chase.

“Please give me back my head!” came his voice from under Undyne’s arm. “I need it to think of wonderful new recipes!”

The two ran circles around for the room for several more minutes before Undyne finally ran out of breath and conceded. Frisk and the rest of his friends couldn’t help and laugh at their expense, even Alphys who seemed to be engrossed in her work. Soon after they returned to their chairs, a familiar, sweet smell filled the living room as Toriel emerged from the kitchen smiling. 

“Happy Birthday, my child,” she said. “Your gift is finally ready.”

The source of the strong aroma was none other that a butterscotch-cinnamon pie, freshly prepared for Frisk and his friends for his special day. There were twelve lit candles spread out around the edge, strategically placed to indicate the correct portion size for each slice. As Toriel walked closer to them, Frisk could feel and hear his stomach growl knowingly. He glanced at Asgore, who seemed to be inhaling a bit heavier than usual. 

“Wow, Toriel. That pie smells really great,” Undyne complimented. 

“Indeed! Your cooking skills are quite superior!” Papyrus remarked. 

“Thank you all so much. Unfortunately, I had to spend most of the day making it, but I’m sure it will be worth it,” she assured them. After placing the pie down on the table in front of Frisk, she searched her pockets briefly. “Oh dear, I forgot the utensils. I’ll be right back.” 

As she briskly jogged back to the kitchen, Frisk looked at the pie with an eager smile. He noticed Asgore lean in a bit as well, still taking in deep breaths. 

“It’s been quite a while since I’ve enjoyed her butterscotch pie,” he sighed. “You know Frisk, that tea I gave you goes rather well with this recipe, especially with the golden flowers I grow. 

“You mean all those ones you planted around you house?” Frisk wondered.

“That’s right!” he replied. “I made that tea especially for you, with my own grown flowers. Which is why I was a bit late for your-”

“And how exactly does Frisk know those flowers were around your house, Asgore?”

\-- 

The sudden, curt question from Toriel seemed to take everyone’s breath away, filling the room with deathly silence. The former queen stood at the kitchen entryway with utensils in hand, her arms folded in disbelief. Asgore’s speech was reduced to stammers as he shifted his attention back and forth between his ex wife and his fellow guests. No one else dared say a word as Toriel’s gaze drilled holes into him. 

“W-Well… uh, about that,” he nervously started, beads of sweat forming on his brow. “I-I’m rather certain I mentioned it briefly before.”

“Oh, I see,” responded Toriel, not buying his story. “Tell me then, Frisk: When exactly did Asgore tell you about the flowers around his house?”

Unlike his fatherly figure, Frisk couldn’t bring himself to move a muscle. He was too mortified to look anyone in the eye. He stared out the window, noticing the clouds were even darker than before, despite the rain coming to a brief stop. His heart pounded in his chest and his hands began to shake as they rested on the table. He couldn’t bring himself to answer his adoptive mother. 

“L-Listen, Toriel…” Asgore continued. “Perhaps after we finish the party, Frisk and I can explain-”

“Asgore,” she said sternly. “I would like to speak with you. Privately.”

The distraught king took one last look at his fellow guests, desperate for a word of protest or support. Unfortunately, no one seemed willing to defy Toriel’s orders. Undyne and Alphys constantly switched their focus between the two, as if they expected one to immediately pounce on the other. Papyrus focused his attention on Frisk, who seemed to get worse every passing second, and Sans merely put a hand on his forehead and sighed. After a few moments of passing silence, Asgore sighed heavily and put a hand on Frisk’s shoulder as he got up out of his chair. 

“It’s alright, we’ll be back in a few minutes,” he tried to convince him. 

“ _Now_ , Dreemurr,” cried Toriel. She diverted her attention away from her guests as she placed the utensils on the table and directed her ex husband towards her room without another word. Asgore followed closely behind. A loud slam of the door left everyone else alone in the living room. 

“I cannot believe this…” Undyne complained, breaking the awkward silence. “Could she really not wait until later to do this?”

“I don’t quite understand myself,” said Papyrus. “Has Toriel forbidden Frisk from talking about flowers or something?”

“I think it has more to do with Asgore, Papyrus,” corrected Alphys. “I think she may have told him to not let Frisk go into the monster city, and he decided to let him in any-”

Suddenly, Frisk slammed his fists on the table in frustration, causing everyone to jump in place, including Sans. The bottom of his hands began to turn red from the impact as his eyes did the same, the first of many tears forming in his eyes. Still shaking uncontrollably, he ripped his party hat off and threw it on the floor before quickly getting up and making his way towards Toriel’s room, despite his friend’s protests. As he quietly stood outside, he didn’t even need to press his ear against the door to hear Toriel begin their argument. 

“I suppose you’re going to explain what you said back there?”

“Toriel, please listen. I didn’t mean-”

“Don’t you DARE interrupt me, Dreemurr. I know exactly what you said and I know you meant it.”

Frisk’s stomach churned with anger and regret hearing his mother’s accusations. Everything within him wanted to run into the room screaming. But something within him refused. 

“Have I not made myself clear when I told you to keep Frisk away from that city?”

“Yes, yes you have. Several times, in fact, but-”

“But what? What possible excuse could you have? I suppose you’d like to convince me it was all Frisk’s idea instead, wouldn’t you?”

Asgore didn’t respond. Nothing could be heard except for Frisk’s own racing heart. He put a hand on the doorknob and closed his eyes as he prepared himself to intervene. 

“I… No,” came Asgore’s voice. “I take full responsibility for what happened. I’m sorry Toriel.”

 _“NO!”_ Frisk screamed internally as he placed his hand over his mouth, trying not to give himself away. Tears began streaming down his cheeks and his chest began to heave as Asgore continued. 

“But if you’ll just listen to me, I can-”

“No, Dreemurr. I will not listen. You’ve given me no reason to listen. It’s not enough that you continue to live in that city while you promote integration like a hypocrite, but now you are trying to take Frisk with you.”

“It’s not like that at all, Toriel! I was going to return him as soon as possible.”

“Do not lie to me! Frisk left in the morning and didn’t return all day! Do you take me for a fool?!”

 _“Why? Why are doing this for me, dad? It was my fault!”_ Frisk repeated over and over again. His head began to ache as he dropped to his knees in despair, his tears continuing to flow as Toriel continued her accusations. 

“Why should I not assume that you’re convincing him to leave me? Was everything that happened in that underground prison not enough?”

Suddenly, a deafening sound reverberated in the hallway and throughout the house as Asgore slammed his hand onto one of the bedroom walls, causing Frisk to back away from the door. Asgore’s tepid stammering was now replaced with a rage the young child had never heard from him before.

“Don’t you dare drag me back there! How dare you even suggest such a thing! Do you think you’re the only one who suffered from those human's deaths?! Do you think you’re the only one who lost his children that day?! Can you only think of yourself?!”

No response came from Toriel, who was utterly paralyzed by her former husband’s sudden outburst. She could only stare at him in fear as he continued. 

“Don’t even think about calling me a hypocrite when you chose to let your own people rot and suffer down there. How can you even claim to know what’s best for Frisk when you’re the one you left your own family and people to suffer?!”

Frisk couldn’t take it anymore. Whatever was keeping him sitting at the door could no longer convince him to stay. The accusations, lies and anger overwhelmed him beyond what he could bear at once. He quickly stood up and ran back to the kitchen, gasping for breath as he tried to regain his composure. His friends were still seated at the dining table, hoping the argument would be over soon. Instead, they looked on pitifully as Frisk disappeared behind the entryway before they could say anything. 

“I swear, I am going to ream those two so hard when they’re done with each other,” Undyne growled. “I don’t care if they were royalty or not.”

No one else seemed to protest. Papyrus and Alphys began repacking all the Corkscrew game materials while Undyne continued to steam over the situation. Sans, on the other hand, ignored them and made his way to the kitchen to check on Frisk. He found him standing in the corner, mumbling to himself and shaking violently. 

“Hey kiddo. Ya know, if you want, I’m sure there are still plenty of places to eat back in the city if you want to get out of here,” he offered. The shaken child didn’t respond, as if Sans hadn’t said a word. Sans sighed in frustration as he began to resent his conversation with him the night prior. 

“Frisk… listen, okay?” he started. “I know this whole situation is rough. I can’t imagine what you’re feeling right now, but what I do know is it can’t be healthy to stick around. Those two are gonna keep at it for a while, and I don’t want to see you get hurt even more.” 

Frisk still didn’t respond, though his head did turn slightly to indicate he was listening. 

“Come on, buddy… don’t you have anything else better to do?” Sans asked. 

Not wanting to intrude any further, Sans left the room, leaving Frisk to his own thoughts, not knowing what he had done. The young child’s head felt as if it would split open as his legs gave way once again, sending him to the floor. He clamped his hands over his ears in a vain attempt to drown out the repeating phrase of his lost friend. They mixed together with the cries of anger from Toriel and Asgore, creating a maelstrom of noise. Among his friend's voices was his own aimless pleas for someone, anyone to help him. 

_“It’s all my fault… I couldn’t take care of them… I can’t even help those who are closest to me.”_

As his body reached its stress limit, Frisk grabbed the counter to help himself up as the tears continued to flow. As he began to rise, his pain, fear and despair began to recede as he felt his face turn red, and the cacophony of self-loathing voices were drowned out by a new, unfamiliar whisper.

*** Your LOVE has increased**

\-- 

The back bedroom became deathly quiet as its two royal occupants stared at each other. As Toriel receded in fear from her former husband’s sudden outburst, Asgore let out a exasperated gasp as if he’d been punched in the stomach. He sat down on the edge of Toriel’s bed and brought his hands up to his head, one of them still hurting from hitting the wall, as he realized what he had done. His anger was all too familiar to the both of them, and Toriel turned away from him to hide her own tears. Through strained breaths, she tried to speak before Asgore cut her off.

“You don’t need to say anything,” he whispered through his hands. “I never should have come here. I’ll… take my leave before I ruin anything else.”

He briefly regained his composure long enough to stand up as Toriel reached for the doorknob. As she turned it, the sound of breaking wood pierced her ears, causing her to back away from the door. Screams echoed from the living room as several objects crashed and shattered against the floor. The former couple briefly glanced at each other and ran out the door in a panic. 

“Is everyone alright?!” cried Toriel. 

“Frisk?!” Asgore shouted. “What on earth happened in-”

The two gasped in unison as they entered the living room. All the plastic chairs had been scattered around the room, and one of the three wooden dining chairs had been reduced to a pile of splinters. The gift boxes were scattered with them, their contents either smashed or torn to pieces. A series of smoke trails rose from the now-ruined butterscotch pie laying on the ground next to Toriel’s reading chair. 

However, what caught Toriel’s attention at first was the rest of her guests huddled up in a corner of the room. Papyrus and Alphys were crowded behind Undyne, who was holding out a spear to keep them behind her. They all had terrified looks on their faces, focusing on the small figure standing in the middle of the room. 

“F-Frisk?” stammered Toriel.

The sound of heavy breathing was the only thing that could be heard as she looked down at her adopted child. His chest visibly rose and fell with every breath, and even though his face was downcast, she could see him swelling with anger. Upon hearing her call his name, he glared at them intensely, tear streams visible on his cheeks. After a few moments, he bared his teeth and took a few steps towards them while lifting his arm. 

Suddenly, a dark blue glow emanated from his chest, and his body stood completely still. He struggled with all his might to move, glaring more and more at Toriel and Asgore as they stepped back in fear. Suddenly, a hollow and cold voice rang out from his right. 

“Kid… Put. The knife. Down.”

A sudden flash of white light reflected off of the kitchen knife’s blade from the window, and the thunder’s roar caused the entire house to shake. Frisk blinked once, and then twice before noticing Sans standing near the front door, his arm outstretched, staring at him with pupil-less eyes. He then glanced back towards Toriel and Asgore, tears forming in their own eyes, and began to feel his anger subside. 

Another flash of lightning caught Frisk’s attention, and he immediately let go of the knife. As soon as he did, he dropped to floor on his knees as Sans let him go while bringing the knife towards him. Undyne’s spear disappeared and the three spread out to give each other room while keeping a close eye on the shaken child. As Sans gripped the knife in his hand, his pupils returned just in time to stare angrily at Toriel and Asgore for their behavior. Before he could give them a piece of his mind, an audible cry came from Frisk. 

_“I… What did I do?”_

*** Why did you stop?**

_“What...what are you?”_

*** Your LOVE has laid dormant for too long**

_“No… no, I didn’t mean to-”_

*** This is what you wanted**

_“No! I don’t want to hurt them!”_

*** They don’t care about you**

_“You’re wrong! You don’t know anything about them!”_

*** You don’t understand… y o u   a n d   I   a r e   n o   d i f f e r e n t**

“NO!” he screamed. As the voice continued to whisper to him, he felt the rest of his body lose all composure. Toriel and Asgore stepped forward in an attempt to comfort him, but as the young child looked up at them, he could feel his anger return. A brief image of the kitchen knife plunging into them filled his vision, causing him to cry out in fear. Not knowing what else to do, he got on his feet and ran out the front door of the house before anyone could grab him, crying loudly. 

“Frisk! Wait!” screamed Undyne, making a beeline towards him. As she stepped over the threshold, she suddenly felt herself become paralyzed as well, the same blue glow coming from her own soul. 

“Sans!! What the hell are you doing?!” she demanded.

“Let him go, Undyne,” he replied calmly. “You saw what happened, and you know what he can do. I’m not going to let yourself get killed.”

The former captain struggled with all her might, but eventually gave up and realized he was right. If she went after him like this, there was no telling what he could do to her. As she returned inside after being let go, she wiped a few tears from her eye as she stared out the window in a vain attempt to find Frisk. Suddenly, Sans pelted the kitchen knife towards the wall, causing it to embed itself right next to Toriel and Asgore, who jumped back in shock. 

“I believe that belongs to you,” he said coldly. 

“Sans…” Alphys started, trying to comfort Undyne. “I know you think Frisk is dangerous, but we can’t just let him wander out there by himself, right?”

“Of course not,” Sans replied. “That’s why I’m gonna go find him and bring him back myself.”

“What?!” cried Papyrus in disbelief. “But...but Sans! If Frisk really is dangerous like you say, why on earth would you go out and get him?! Wouldn’t it be better for Undyne to do it?”

“Don’t worry Pap, I’ll be okay,” Sans reassured. “Besides, I’m not gonna fight him or anything. I just have to find him and...well, lead him in the right direction. Forcefully, if I have to.” Before anyone could protest, he opened the front door and gave one last glare to Toriel and Asgore before shutting the door behind him. After a few moments of silence, the former couple tried to follow him, but as they opened the door, a strong gust of wind blew past them, and he was gone. 

\--

The clouds continued to get darker and darker as Frisk ran as far away as he could from his home. Thoughts and images of his friends being harmed by him wouldn’t stop flashing before him, making the tears flow more and more as he sought refuge. A few drops of rain struck him in the face as the clouds threatened to open up. 

_“I have to find shelter,”_ he concluded. _“But where can I go?”_

The crashing sound of thunder surrounded him as he ran past his school and came to a fork, one way leading to the city and the other leading in the opposite direction. He knew he couldn’t get near anyone else, so he turned and followed the path up towards the mountains. As he climbed, the temperatures began to drop as lightning continued to flash across the sky, bolts striking the peaks in front of him. His body ached as he climbed and climbed for what felt like an eternity. Finally, he gave himself a rest and leaned against an old oak tree. After gasping for breath and observing his surroundings, he noticed a familiar landmark in the distance. 

_“Is that…?”_ he wondered. 

As Frisk took a few careful steps forward, he began to make out a cave entrance a few meters away. It looked familiar to him, but he couldn’t quite remember why. As he looked around for any other signs or indicators, he noticed he was standing on the edge of a steep cliff, overlooking the rest of the mountain landscape and the integrated city. Staring at it for a few quiet moments, he suddenly realized he had seen it before. 

He was on Mt. Ebott, and that cave wasn’t an entrance. 

“Fancy you’d come back here, huh kiddo?” came Sans voice behind him. The young child quickly turned around to see his friend standing near the Underground’s exit, not moving a bone in his body. He began to walks towards him as Sans continued. 

“Of all the places to end up, you came here,” he repeated. “I wanna say it’s a coincidence, but I think by now I know better than that.” 

Frisk neared his rock-steady friend, his face downcast once again as he heard the whisper speak to him.

*** That’s him… he’s who you really want**

With a cry of frustration, Frisk bolted towards Sans and threw a punch towards him, only to swat at the air and land face-first on the ground. As he regained his footing, Sans reappeared to his right and merely stared at him. 

“So after everything we’ve been through, this is how it’s gonna be?” he retorted bluntly. 

*** He tried to convince you they could change**

No matter how hard he tried, the young child couldn’t hold himself back. Frightened and confused, he raised his fist again and ran towards Sans, who disappeared in the blink of an eye as his friend tried to strike him again. 

“Kid, I’m tellin’ ya, knock it off. I’d prefer taking you back to everyone else in one piece,” he warned, reappearing again. 

*** H e   l i e d   t o   y o u**

Frisk’s breathing became heavy. As he tried once more to run towards his friend, several bolts of lightning illuminated Frisk’s face and Sans noticed the young child’s eyes were bloodshot. Because of his hesitation, he was forced to grab the child with his blue attack.

“I can feel it…” Sans whispered to himself. “That LOVE… it doesn’t belong to you.”

He lifted the young child off of his feet and slowly brought him closer. As Frisk struggled, Sans’ pupils disappeared again while his hollow voice could be heard over the thunder. 

“I don’t know who or what you are, but you ruined my friend’s birthday,” he said coldly. “That wasn’t very nice of you.” He suddenly threw Frisk back into the cave’s opening, landing him in a grassy area. As he descended, his head struck a misplaced piece of the cave’s ceiling on the floor. As Sans prepared to grab him again, he stopped at the sound of the young child's muffled cries. 

“Sans… please…” he pleaded. “I can’t control it. Don’t take me back. I don’t want to hurt anyone. You… you can’t let me go back!”

Beads of sweat formed on the skeleton’s forehead as he began to panic. He knew he couldn’t return to everyone without Frisk, but if he did, the consequences could be disastrous. Even with Frisk in control, he knew it wouldn’t last for long. 

“Please… you have to get rid of them,” pleaded Frisk.

The young child looked down in despair as he lifted his arms horizontally, waiting for Sans to finish the job. His friend’s hands began to shake, trying as hard as he could to think of another way. After a minute of silence between the two, without either of them moving, Sans finally closed his eyes and lifted his arm forward. 

“Frisk… I’m sorry…” he sadly replied. 

As the young child looked up, he gasped upon seeing an unusual figure floating over Sans’ head. It looked like the skull of a great beast, its glowing white eyes staring right at him. Suddenly, Sans raised his hand heavenward and the gasterblaster’s mouth unhinged as a blinding white sphere of energy exploded violently towards Frisk, its sound shaking the walls of the cavern around him. 

However, moments before reaching him, the energy was suddenly diverted towards the cave’s ceiling, causing it to collapse. Frisk barely had enough time to jump back in response, losing his footing and striking his head on the ground once again. After a few minutes, the cave in stopped, sealing off the exit to the Underground. The two were completely separated. 

As soon as the cave in subsided, the clouds opened and the rain began to fall much more regularly. Sans opened his eyes and stared at the now ruined exit before turning his attention to his gasterblaster. 

“Go to the entrance. Come back as soon as you see him.” he commanded. 

The blaster gave its master a knowing nod, and disappeared over the peak of the mountain towards the only known entrance to the Underground. As lightning continued to flash, Sans sat down at the edge of the pile of rocks and stared up into the sky. 

“I was wrong, kid,” he whispered. “I should’ve been there when it mattered. And now I couldn't help you when you needed it the most.”

The rain continued to fall, getting steadier with every passing second. As the low-hanging rain clouds began to surround him near the peak of Mt. Ebott, Sans let out a pained sigh. 

“Take care of yourself, kid.” 

But the young child never got to hear his friend’s apology. At that moment, his determination left him, and he passed out filled with despair and terror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \------ End Of Part 1 ------


	7. Night Under The Mountain

Several hours passed after the party had come to an abrupt end. The stormy clouds had layered the earth beneath them with a sufficient supply of rain for the next few days, and through the increasing cracks between them came the moon’s faint light. As the insects continued to take refuge in fear of drowning, Frisk’s neighborhood was eerily silent for a mid-spring day. Many of the houses along the streets blended in with the night, their occupants catching Z’s so they might face their Monday with some form of energy. Only one house remained lit.

“Well, if you do see them, let me know okay?” sighed Alphys exhaustively into her phone. “Okay… Okay, thanks… No, no, I’ll have my phone on, just keep in touch. Have a good night.”

The disheveled scientist pressed the red button on the touchscreen to end another call, her fingerprints adding on to a growing smudge in the bottom right corner. She grabbed a cloth spread across the seat of her folding chair and cleaned it as best she could before collapsing exhaustively onto the floor in the middle of the room. As she propped herself up, she wiped off her hands, which had accumulated a layer of sweat from holding her phone for so long, and got a quick glance at everyone else.

The living room had been cleaned since Frisk and Sans disappeared, which felt like an eternity ago to her. She had volunteered to clean up while Undyne and Papyrus kept watch outside for any sign of their dear friends. One of the dining room chairs had been reduced to a pile of splinters, leaving only two that were currently occupied by Toriel and Asgore. The pie tin once containing Toriel’s best recipe now rested at the top of the kitchen trash, and Asgore’s tea cups were shattered to bits. The kettle, while not destroyed, had suffered greatly as well, showing one prominent crack running down the middle of the painted heart. Alphys’ gift had been thrown across the room, the new phone’s screen cracked from the impact despite still being in the box.

The only gift not completely destroyed was Undyne’s foam sword, despite being slightly bent. Alphys noticed the former captain gripping the handle tightly as she continued to peer out into the night.

_“There’s no way I’m gonna be able to do this all night…”_ Undyne groaned to herself as the clock struck 11. _“Damn it, where are you, Sans?!”_

Her face tightened in sync with her grip on the handle as Alphys stood up and continued to scroll through her contact list. Since coming to the Surface, she had made quite a few friends both at work and in her neighborhood (though she was convinced some of them only talked to her because of her connections to Frisk and the former king and queen). While the attention at first was overbearing, she could not be more thankful for the plethora of acquaintances she could now call on to look out for any sign of her friends. The only thing preventing her was her fear of waking them up.

As she continued to pace back and forth, Toriel and Asgore sat across each other at the wooden dining table. Neither could muster the strength or dignity to look at one another: Toriel laid her head in her arms, weeping silently to herself, visible tear streams continuing to refill every few seconds. Her shoulders heaved as quick, pained gasps escaped from her arms’ enclosure. Asgore, on the other hand, could have easily been mistaken for a statue. He stared blankly at his open hands, his mind racing with fear and confusion as his chest tightened and his head felt lightweight.

After another breathless conversation on the phone, Alphys fatigue caught the better of her and she collapsed once again, this time landing in her chair. She had lost count of how many people she had contacted about an hour ago, the same time she had begun to question whether or not all her calls could really help.

“So far, no one I’ve contacted has seen either of them,” she announced sadly. “All of our neighbors said they’d be on the lookout tomorrow.”

Undyne breathed in sharply and grimaced, breaking her gaze out the window for the first time in hours. Every thought that crossed her mind told her to lash out in anger, to run out of the neighborhood and look for them herself. And every time she considered it, another recollection of Frisk’s face as he lashed out in anger took its place, and she regained her self-control long enough to remind herself of Sans’ warning.

“I won’t give up, though,” reassured Alphys, hoping to instill some much-needed hope within her friends. “I was putting it off for a while, but I think I better call Mettaton. I have an idea…”

The plan confused Undyne. The last time they had been in contact with him was a few weeks after being freed from the Underground. The fabulous autonomous star had “found his calling” on the western coast, and he hadn’t visited them once since. She could feel her anger rising again.

“Really, Alphys? What’s that bucket of bolts gonna do?” she scoffed under her breath.

She quickly noticed Alphys staring at her as she waited for her robot friend to pick up, a hurt expression on her face.

“Alright, alright, calm down Undyne. Alphys is smart, she knows what she’s doing… I think.”

The former captain diverted her attention from her girlfriend and instead glared at Toriel and Asgore in disgust. She quickly recalled the second and third reason she had decided to keep a watch out for Frisk and Sans, and they were both sitting there stoic.

_“They could at least do SOMETHING,”_ she argued to herself.

Her internal rant temporarily subsided as she noticed a slight movement from the king for the first time in hours, mumbling something incomprehensible to himself as he brought his hands up to his eyes. No matter how hard he tried to forget, the image of Frisk threatening him was burned into his retinas, the young child’s look pain and suffering matching his own. As he sank further into his chair and wallowed in his misery, memories from a time long passed began to resurface: the faces of 6 humans, desperately trying to defend themselves and holding up whatever pathetic weapon they had, would briefly take Frisk’s place. And for each one that appeared, the tighter his hands would grip, hoping in vain it would prevent them from returning.

Meanwhile, Toriel’s thoughts were plagued with terrible images as well, albeit hers were of a different nature. While her ex-husband dwelt on the past, she couldn’t help but fear for the future. Her face remained buried in her arms, and she feared what could be happening to Frisk and what he was going through right now. And in every scene all she could hear was him pleading for her help as he wandered hopelessly lost in the mountains or was being attacked by someone. No matter how hard she tried to shift her focus, no amount of reassurance from any of her friends could calm her down. A few more minutes of silence passed before she quickly stood up from her chair, hysterical.

“This is ridiculous! Why are we all just standing here?!” she cried, her guests startled by her sudden outburst. Alphys almost lost control of her phone while Undyne dropped Frisk’s foam sword on the ground. As she watched Toriel frantically lose her composure, it took all the willpower within her to not lash back. Luckily, Papyrus stepped in to respond.

“W-well, remember what Sans said, Toriel,” he stammered, cautiously stepping towards her. “I know he can seem careless sometimes… er, well, a lot of the times. But in this case, I truly think he has our best interest at heart. I don’t think he would’ve prevented Undyne from going after Frisk if he didn’t sense some serious danger.”

“But Papyrus… ” Alphys started in protest. “What if something happened to Sans? It’s been hours since we’ve seen either of them.”

“Well then perhaps he hasn’t found Frisk yet,” Papyrus retorted.

“Okay, but would he really leave us here without any more information?” replied Alphys. “I’m not sure Sans would leave us out of the loop for this long, even for someone like him. It’s like you said; he knows how serious this is.”

Papyrus opened his mouth, but her point was well taken. Sans could have quickly returned to the house and provide his friends with information on his search. It certainly would have helped them calm down. The realization that something could have happened to his brother quickly prompted him back to his place by the window, now with a look of greater desperation on his face. Alphys stood behind him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, wishing she hadn’t brought it up.

Suddenly, Asgore stood up from his chair.“If what you’re saying is true, Alphys, then perhaps it would be best if we stayed here for just a little while longer.”

“But we have no idea if that’s true,” snapped Toriel, now looking at him with contempt. “In any case, what right do you have to say what we should or shouldn’t do? None of this would have happened if-”

“You were the one who brought me back there!” Asgore angrily interrupted, pointing to the hallway. “Don’t think that you’re completely innocent. I wanted to talk about it afterward, but you just-”

“I was only trying to protect him,” Toriel bellowed. “And if it wasn’t for you, Frisk wouldn’t be-”

_NGAAAAAHHHH!!_

A split-second flash of pale blue light engulfed the room as Toriel and Asgore’s conversation was cut short from a sleek, fast-moving object whizzing in between them, inches away from their faces. The deafening sound of splintering wood quickly followed as the magic spear struck the dining room table with violent force and split it in two. The former couple quickly jumped back instinctively, sending them both sprawling on the floor, their hearts racing faster than they could bear. Undyne glared at them with hateful daggers.

_“Will you two just SHUT UP?!”_ she bellowed. Her yellow teeth were completely bared, and the hand that had thrown the spear was now pointing a threatening finger at the two former royals. A faint shade of red covered her face as Alphys and Papyrus stood back in fear.

“Both of you! _It’s both of you!_ ” Undyne continued. “I have completely had it with this today! It’s one thing to ruin Frisk’s birthday; it’s bad enough that he’s out there right now and we have no idea where he is. But now after just sitting around for so long, you two are seriously gonna start arguing _again?! I outta-_ ”

“Undyne, stop!” shouted Alphys as she grabbed the back of Undyne’s shirt with both hands. Her enraged partner had taken a few steps forward with a fist raised towards Toriel and Asgore, now cowering in terror on the floor. She forcefully turned Undyne’s attention to hers, staring at her with pleading eyes.

The former captain paused and stared back before suddenly swinging her fist over Alphys’ head and into the wall, leaving a small crater in the drywall. She swallowed hard and brought her other hand up to her eyes as tears began to flow. She felt two arms wrap around her abdomen as Alphys tried to comfort her.

“It’s alright, Undyne,” Alphys said softly, trying to hold back her own tears. “I… _We_ are gonna find them, okay? I promise.”

Another few minutes passed before Undyne regained her composure. Alphys loosened her grip and stepped back as the former captain took a few deep breaths and looked at her. She didn’t say anything, but she had a look of gratitude as she wiped away the tear trails from her cheeks. Her expression quickly changed, however, as Papyrus ran over to Toriel and Asgore to help them up. She crossed her arms and looked at them both with disgust.

“Look…” she began with a weak voice. “I know that you two are really hurting after everything that happened today. Hell, all of us are. We were all there. And I know that it’s hard just sitting here.”

She took a few steps towards them as she continued.

“But at least the rest of us have been doing _something_ ,” she said, getting louder with each step. “We’ve been contacting people, leaving messages, and at the very least, keeping a lookout for any signs of them while we’re here. What have you two been doing?! Just sitting around and moping, from what I’ve seen!”

She paused for a response, which neither of the two dared to give. They simply looked at each other with mixed emotions.

“I know you two have had a rough past… “ Undyne said calmly. “I don’t think any of us monsters could forget what happened when you two lost your first children. But none of us were around for it, so there’s really nothing we can do to help you with that.”

The two remained silent. They quickly looked away from each other, suppressing their memories of that fateful day. Undyne continued walking towards them.

“But whether all that stuff happened a few years or a few centuries ago doesn’t matter. None of it matters right now,” she said bluntly. “What matters is that there is a hurting child out there right now, and regardless of what you want or think, he looks up to both of you. How do you think he would feel if he saw you two fighting again, huh? After everything’s that’s happened?”

She stood only inches from them as her expression became more contorted with anger.

“So you know what? If you two want to bicker with each other all night, then I’m not going to have any part of it,” she seethed. “But I’m warning you right now… “

She walked past them and reached out her hand to grab the spear, still embedded a few inches in the hardwood floor. With very little effort, she ripped it out of place, sending chunks of the wooden dining room table all over the floor. Toriel and Agore stepped back as she swung around and brought the spearhead inches away from their faces.

“If I’m the first to find out that something happened to Frisk or Sans… _I’ll be sure to let you know._ ”

With one last piercing scowl, Undyne brought the spear down as it vanished into thin air and she walked towards the door. Papyrus gave a final look out the window before quickly following her lead. As Alphys headed out with them, she looked back and gave a concerned look to the former couple before letting out a sigh, unable to say anything as she closed the door behind her. With a sharp click of the latch, the two were left alone, still in shock and grief over what Undyne had said.

Toriel’s head felt light and she sat down in one of the remaining dining room chairs while rubbing her temples. Asgore walked over to the wall towards the windows and leaned against it.

“Well then… “ mumbled Toriel with a pained voice. “I suppose at least one of us should start looking for the two of them. Wouldn’t you agree?”

The former king didn’t reply. He merely turned his attention out the window to see the trio walking down the sidewalk back towards the monster city. As they disappeared into the night, he closed his eyes and lowered his head to collect his thoughts. A single tear fell from his cheek.

“I have an urgent meeting tomorrow morning at the school,” Toriel explained, standing up. “It involves one of my students, and I can’t cancel on them. But if you can spend the morning looking for them, I can continue looking after I’m done until evening. By then, someone should have spotted them.”

Asgore remained quiet as Toriel began walking towards him. Her voice started to become tense.

“Listen… Asgore… I know you’re upset,” she said bluntly. “But if you could just please listen to me for once, we can-”

“Did he tell you why I came to his party today?” Asgore interrupted. His voice was even lower in tone than usual, almost a whisper.

“I… well, he invited you, didn’t he?” Toriel asked, puzzled by the question. “What does that have anything to-”

“When he visited my home a few days ago,” Asgore explained. “I had no idea he was coming by. I… I assumed you had let him visit me as a gift for his birthday.”

“Wait, so, you mean he really _did_ go on his own?” Toriel asked, shocked.

Asgore nodded sadly and let out a pained sigh. “I tried to get him home as soon as I found out the truth. I told him what he did was wrong.”

Toriel couldn’t find a proper response. A tidal wave of guilt overcame her as she realized what her assumptions had led to. She wanted to believe he was lying, but his expression, his actions and everything else that had happened that day pointed an accusing finger at her.

“He… he called me ‘dad’” Asgore choked before bringing a hand up to his eyes once more. Toriel brought a hand up to her mouth, pained to see him completely beside himself with grief. Everything within her wanted to say something to comfort him.

“Asgore, I… I didn’t…” she stammered.

But before she could finish, the former king held up a hand as he regained his composure. They both stared at each other, their looks of loneliness and despair almost identical. After a few moments of silence, he slowly made his way towards the front door.

“I’ll look for Sans and Frisk tomorrow as well,” he said calmly. “Hopefully one of us can find them before Undyne does.”

“Asgore, wait,” commanded Toriel as he reached for the doorknob. She wanted to say just two words that would help him feel better. But something within her refused.

“I’ll keep an ear out in case someone else finds them,” he continued. “And when they are eventually found… you won’t have to worry about me intervening with you two again.”

His last words for the night pierced Toriel’s heart like a spear, and she froze in place as Asgore made his way out the front door, slowly making his way back home in the dead of night. Now alone, she couldn’t take her eyes off the door as she began to shake violently.

_“Everything that happened… the argument… Frisk and Sans… it’s all my fault”_ she thought.

The air around her felt cold as she wrapped her arms around her stomach. Her entire body felt heavy and twisted with grief the more she thought about everything she had said and done the last few days. As her mind processed Asgore’s last statement to her, she fell to her knees, her arms barely supporting her. With tears running down her cheeks, the same phrase repeated over and over again inside her head.

_“I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry…”_

 

* * *

 

It wasn’t long after the rain had ended when all the nocturnal creatures began to resume their nightly routines. All throughout the suburbs and cities, the sound of crickets chirping and owls hooting serenaded many children with their windows open to sleep for the school day ahead. As the last few house lights flicked off, a few scattered groups of lightning bugs dotted the landscape as a replacement. And as a former king walked among them back to his abode, a young child began to awaken.

The environment surrounding Frisk as he slowly regained consciousness was anything but the spring night just beyond the walls of his new found prison. The air was musty, overpowering the young child with a damp, earthy stench. The rain has found its way through the cave walls and had saturated the ground around him, caking his front with a thin layer of mud and dirt. The enclosure was thick enough that he couldn’t hear any sounds other than an occasional drop of water striking the ground, as well as his own heartbeat.

As he mustered the strength to stand, he began the fruitless task of cleaning himself up. Both his arms and legs were aching.

_"I...what happened?_ he wondered.

After wiping the last spot of mud from his face, the young child allowed his eyes to adjust. A small crack in the ceiling allowed just enough light for him to make out his surroundings. The weight of his body had left a faint imprint in the soft earth where he had landed. As he looked around, his eyes focused on a pile of rocks standing between him and the fresh mountain air. His heart skipped a beat as he began recollecting what had brought him there.

“Sans!” he cried weakly. “Sans, are you still there?”

His call for help resonated for several seconds as it bounced off the walls of the cave. But nobody answered.

“Sans, please!” he pleaded again. “You can’t just leave me in here…”

A few more water drops struck the rocks around him, yet still no reply. His legs seemed to cry out alongside him with every step he took toward the cave-in.

“I… I just…” he stammered, falling on his knees. “I just want to go home…”

Frisk’s body shook slightly as reality began to set in. His friend wasn’t going to answer, whether because he had fallen asleep outside the entrance or because of what he had tried to do to him and his friends. His mind reeled with questions, each one becoming more painful to ask.

_“He wouldn’t leave me here forever…”_ he purposed. _“But after everything I did, would he really let me go back?”_

His legs couldn’t bear his weight any longer, and he used the last of his strength to carry himself onto a dry, hard surface to rest. He sprawled his aching body onto the flattest rock he could find and allowed himself to rest as best he could. The effect was almost instantaneous, his muscles slowly beginning to relax as he stared blankly at the ceiling.

_“Okay Frisk, don’t panic.”_ he commanded himself. _“Sans probably went back and told everyone what happened. They’re probably on their way back right now and…”_

His train of thought was abruptly sidetracked by a faint sound near the cave entrance. A few rocks had fallen from the ceiling onto the pile. Frisk’s quickly assumed someone was there with him, and his adrenaline shot his body upwards in an instant, long enough for his nerves to send him back down in a torrent of painful protest. His heart began racing as he gritted his teeth and tried to calm himself.

“Is anyone there?” he yelled as best he could.

The only response came from above him as an owl flew over his head, searching for its nightly prey. He remained stiff and silent for a while as his body continued to rest. His muscles relaxed and adrenaline waned, and he began to feel a chill running through him. Despite the comfortable spring day prior, the night was quickly becoming too cold for him to handle.

_“But where can I go where they can find me?”_ he wondered.

Then it dawned on him. He was laying right outside the exit of Asgore’s castle in The Underground. And as much as it pained him to move, especially to a place where his friends and family had once been imprisoned, he remembered the bedrooms in New Home and their comfortable looking beds.

_“I won’t wander too far in,”_ he reasoned. _“I’ll stay there just for tonight and head back here tomorrow when I’m feeling better. And if they show up while I’m asleep, they won’t have to go far to find me.”_

His body seemed to agree as he carefully planted himself on the ground and made his way towards his safe haven for the night. He stopped and took one long look back at the cave-in before disappearing into the darkness past the archway into Asgore’s castle.

\--

As he carefully put one foot in front of the other, Frisk tried to think positively to keep himself moving forward. As he passed through the narrow hallway leading to the throne room proper, he eagerly recalled seeing his friends quickly making their way in the opposite direction. It seemed so long ago, yet the hope and joy on their faces was something he could never forget. Even with all the troubles on the surface following, he knew it paled in comparison to their seemingly endless banishment.

“You are the future of humans and monsters…” he recalled hearing in Asgore’s voice. “You must stay determined!”

Yet as the king’s words pressed the young child forward, the sight before him as he reentered the throne room stopped him. Never would Frisk had imagined how much care and consideration Asgore must’ve taken into keeping his castle kept up, nor how fast it would deteriorate without him. What was once a sprawling garden of golden flowers was now a swamp of brown and gray remains, their stems cracking like twigs underneath Frisk’s feet.

The only healthy remains were a small patch of golden flowers still surviving at the foot of the king’s throne. As the curious child walked closer, however, he noticed that thick vines had wrapped themselves around the frame, their thorns ripping into the cushions and creating rusty scratches all around. Frisk looked to his left and found Toriel’s throne right where they left it, still covered by its white sheet. But as he walked closer, he saw that it wasn’t enough to save it. The sheet was damp with months of rainwater, and the chair beneath was stained and dirty beyond repair. It looked as if any further disturbance would cause the legs to disintegrate into a pile of rust.

_“I wonder what it must’ve been like, keeping this here all these years,”_ he thought to himself, carefully tossing the white sheet away. _“Did he ever think he would see her again?”_

He stood silent for a while, shifting his attention back and forth between the two chairs as their owner's voices rang in his head. Between both of their loving and caring words, a knot quickly formed in his stomach, his body aching for comfort. A few drops of moisture from the ceiling plopped on his head, breaking him out of his trance. He decided to press onward, careful not make any more of a mess.

As the throne room disappeared behind him, Frisk noticed the flora had no intentions of leaving. Left unattended and trimmed, thick vines snaked their way out of the room’s entrance, spreading out in all directions. He looked to his left and noticed them headed now the staircase into the basement. His stomach grumbled and his legs ached, urging him to turn the other direction towards a safe haven.

Finally, the overgrown vines and weeds came to an end as he entered the once golden corridor. The stain glass windows were still in great condition, from what he could tell. There was enough moonlight being let in to allow the young child to see where he was going far better than before. In fact, it was enough to notice that a thin layer of dust had settled on the floor, and cobwebs had overtaken the corners of the room and near the top and bottom of the massive stone pillars.  
As Frisk walked towards the entrance leading to the city, he recalled Sans’ words of reassurance before facing Asgore for the first time:

“We’re all rootin’ for ya, kid,” he had said.

Now, as the young child passed where his friend had stopped him one last time, he began to question how much that statement still remained true.

_“I wonder if they’re even looking for me,”_ he glumly pondered. _“Maybe Sans told them what happened and told them to stay away from me.”_

A few tears escaped from his eyes before quickly widening his eyes. At the end of the corridor was a familiar box he had used to store various items he had found through the Underground. And from what he could tell, it hadn’t been opened by anyone since they had left. Frisk ran as fast as he could and flung the lid open, smacking the back of the chest with a thundering boom that seemed to echo throughout the castle. To his dismay and confusion, it seemed most of the items he had left were gone. Perhaps some of the monsters had taken them as they were leaving. However, there was one thing left that he knew he couldn’t leave behind: a sturdy-looking flashlight.

_“Please, please, please…”_ he pleaded as he took the flashlight out and wiped off the dust. He pointed the head down the hall and turned it on, instantaneously cutting through the dark with a bright, pure white beam. He let out a small cheer as he carefully let his eyes adjust. As he slowly guided the beam around the corridor, he noticed something etched into the side of the handle:

**[PROTOTYPE] The New MTT-Brand Everlasting Flashlight. The immaculate aura of Mettaton, now in the palm of your hand.**

After a quick, stifled laugh, Frisk turned towards the corridor’s entrance and continued on his way, now feeling much safer with one of his friend’s gadgets to help out. Suddenly, the air around his began to grow colder as the moonlit corridor receded behind him. He was certain that he was close to New Home by now. After wandering past different rooms for a little while, his flashlight showed the way to the lookout area over the city. The walls around him gradually opened up until he passed through the entryway, and he began to point the flashlight down at his feet for fear of finding the edge a little too late.

The scene was just as he had expected: pitch black and eerie. When he had first passed through the castle, he was able to glimpse signs of life from the lookout area, with spots of light coming from the buildings below. Now several months had gone by, and only he remained as the only remaining life to be found. Without the flashlight’s powerful beam, one could easily assume the city didn’t exist at all.

“Hello?” he screamed into the void space. He didn’t expect to receive a response from anyone. Yet a few seconds later, his own call came echoed back to him and startled him enough to lose his grip on the flashlight. As it began to roll towards the edge, Frisk frantically jumped towards it, much to his aching legs’ displeasure. Regardless, he quickly wrapped his hands around the edge of the handle while letting out a huge sigh of relief. As he brought it back to safety, the beam tilted upwards towards the ceiling.

“Woah…” Frisk gasped.

The powerful stream of light illuminated a patch of crystals growing on the cave’s ceiling, and their structural makeup twisted and turned the light in many directions and colors, passing through other crystals nearby. Soon, a large circle of illuminated crystals surrounded the beam, and the light began to reveal the city proper with a faint blue glow. As he moved the light around, other distant crystals began to twinkle as well, adding more to the iridescent glow.

The sight was nothing short of breathtaking, and he was filled with determination.

_“I’m almost there,”_ he assured himself. _“I hope Asgore’s home didn’t get ruined like the throne room did.”_

After taking in the light show for a few more moments, the young child regrettably pried his eyes away and continue to make progress. The glow of the crystals lasted for a bit longer, enough for him to see where he was going even without the flashlight. A few minutes went by, and the final photons of light were absorbed by the crystals, just as the walls of New Home’s basement began to close in.

\--

The wooden stairs connecting New Home’s greeting Room and the basement creaked loudly as the young child ascended, much louder than the floorboard back at Toriel’s home on the surface. To Frisk, it was as if they were echoing the pain his legs had been through for the past few hours. Nevertheless, as he propped himself up on the guardrail, he swung his flashlight around the inky black house. Everything seemed to be exactly where it had been before. The only difference was the golden flowers were now wilted, and a thin layer of dust covered the floor.

However, that didn’t stop Frisk him inhaling sharply and letting out an exasperated sigh. He had finally reached his destination, and as he peered into the living room, Asgore’s sitting chair looked mighty inviting. He hobbled over as fast as he could without collapsing from exhaustion alone, leaving footprints in the dusty floor as he went. As he climbed up onto the cushion, the result was immediate. The entire bottom half of his body relaxed, and he sank into the back of the chair already feeling refreshed. He barely even noticed the chair’s musty smell after being left alone for several months.

_“It’s gonna be hard to get up after this,”_ he chuckled to himself.

A few moments turned into several minutes as his head began to tilt back with fatigue. However, his stomach quickly interrupted with a demand for sustenance. The young child groaned as he regrettably got up from his comfortable spot in search for dinner.

_“Good thing the kitchen is right here,”_ he sighed.

This time, he decided to put the flashlight on the table and point it towards the ceiling, providing a faint glow for the whole room. Despite its utility, the metal casing made it rather heavy to carry around for an extended period of time. He turned around and made his way towards the kitchen, hoping that there was something there that he could eat. He searched through the pantries and cabinets with no luck. He instinctively reached for the refrigerator and opened it, only to be instantly assaulted by a terrible stench. The power had gone out long ago, leaving the contents behind to rot.

Frisk slammed the door shut as fast as he could, yet it was far too late. The stench was practically burned into his nostrils, powerful enough to make him gag. While trying to recover, he eventually did find a few servings of canned vegetables in the freezer. But the damage was already done; his appetite immediately left him, despite being deprived for several hours. He carried the cans out to the living room and placed them on the dining room table, deciding it would at least make a good breakfast.

_“I think that’s enough exploring for now,”_ he concluded. _“I better get to bed quick before my legs snap in two.”_

At first glance, the bedrooms in the back looked relatively untouched from where they had been left. However, as the young child tried to open the first door, something blocked him from entering. He tried as hard as his body would let him before giving up, fearing he would push himself too hard and end up collapsing unconscious onto the dusty floor instead. If his memory was correct, Asgore’s bed was much roomier anyway.

Luckily for him, the former king’s former quarters gave no objections, and a wave of relief fell over him as he placed the flashlight on the floor to let the light fill the room. The chair near Asgore’s desk was pulled out, and his journal was still open to the same journal entry:

“Nice day today!”

Frisk would have laughed if he wasn’t suddenly overcome with homesickness. As he read the passage, Asgore’s voice replaced his own, and the young child wished he were there to comfort him. He shuffled slowly around the room, peering at all the random objects left behind and forgotten before gazing upon himself in the mirror above the dresser. He looked about as good as he felt; the entire front of his shirt was still covered in drying mud, his face and hair weren’t much better, and he looked as if he was being held up with a wire tied to his back.

_“Why did everything end up like this?”_ he asked himself. _“It wasn’t supposed to be this way.”_

He took a few more steps towards the mirror. Small, dark circles under his eyes became visible in the dim light.

_“I wanted to help them, just like before,”_ he continued. _“But this time, I just made things worse.”_

His mind began to replay his outburst. The terrified faces of his friends and family plagued him as he dropped to his knees. A few tears began rolling down his cheeks.

_“I just wanted to see them be happy again. And yet…”_

* You just couldn’t do it

The young child’s eyes snapped open in an instant at the familiar voice. He looked into the mirror to his reflection staring back him with a menacing grin and bright red eyes, causing him to recoil in fear. The mirage disappeared in an instant, but the voice continued in his head.

* So you’ve woken up. I knew you would.

“STOP!” Frisk screamed, clasping his hands over his ear. “Just stop it!”

* Is that any way to talk to the one who saved you?

“W… what are you talking about?! _You’re_ the reason I’m down here in the first place!”

* On the contrary, you were the one who went back for the knife.

Another wave of flashbacks threatened to tear Frisk’s heart apart in grief. He crawled over to Asgore’s bed and leaned against it for support, too weak to attempt a climb.

“I just… I just wanted it to stop,” he admitted. “But not like this. Y-you were the one who made me go back”.

* Don’t get ahead of yourself, partner. I haven’t quite gotten that far yet. Rest assured, the time will come.

A cold, sinister chuckle seemed to reverberate through the room. Frisk wrapped his arms around the front post of the bed frame to help himself up.

“Who are you?” he questioned. “What do you want from me?”

* You’ve already given me what I want. In due time, you’ll find out. But enough about me; what is it that you REALLY want?

“For you to go away!” the young child spat back.

* Wrong. I know what you want. Yet you insist on lying to me about it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he murmured.

* And again. You’re almost a worse liar than those foolish former leaders are.

“Don’t talk about them like that!” the young child commanded.

* I’ll talk about our parents however I please.

“W...what?” Frisk gasped, baffled.

* Aaah, so now you’re starting to understand. Well, don’t worry if it isn’t clear right now. I’ll be sure to… fill you in with all the details as we go.

“No, wait,” Frisk pleaded. “What did you mean by that? You said they were your parents. You… does that mean that you’re… ”

Before Frisk could even say the name, he clasped his ears again as a howling, high-pitched laughter erupted from within him.

* An interesting theory, but I think I’ve said enough for now. You should rest, partner. You and I have a lot of ground to cover.

“W-wait!” Frisk pleaded. “Please, you have to tell me!”

* The answer you seek lies at the end of your journey. So until then, I’d recommend you… s t a y d e t e r m i n e d.

With one last round of shrill cackles, the voice left Frisk alone as he finally made his way on top of the bed. With the last bit of his arm strength, he crawled over to the edge and buried his head in the pillow. Yet the moment of rest was hardly comforting as the young child burst into tears over the voice’s cruel speech. His chest heaved as the pillow became quickly stained with tears, the only sounds coming from his gasps for air.

_“It’s all my fault,”_ he convinced himself. _“I couldn’t save my family, I couldn’t save my friends, and now… I couldn’t even keep my promise.”_

Frisk’s body could stand it no longer. The stress and dread he felt eventually overcame him as he choked out his last words before collapsing:

_“I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry…”_


	8. Just The Right Kind Of Help

The moon’s light provided just enough illumination for Undyne and Alphys to see as they came to the limits of the integrated city and neared the impressive wall surrounding their hometown. They passed through a strip of land that had seen clashes between humans and monsters who refused to have anything to do with the other. Overtime those protests had dwindled as more and more people agreed to move on from the past. However, neither side was willing to put in the time or money to restore the area.. Thus, it had become a sort of demilitarized zone; unkempt, long grass was growing through the cracks in the road. The streetlights meant to guide them had long given up, and as a young child began exploring the home of a former king, the two exhausted party goers were nearing the monster city’s gate. 

The soft sound of panting greeted them as the neon sign warning trespassing intruders reflected floodlights firmly secured to the top of the brick barrier. The panting suddenly stopped and the two residents recognized the familiar muzzle of the Greater Dog. He loved being around others so much that he diligently worked the night shift so he would have ample time to play in the park. He had many good friends, both kids and adults.

As Undyne and Alphys passed in front of him, he gave them a confused look, trying to deduce what the two of them were doing out so late at night. 

“We, uh…” began Alphys as she fiddled with her phone, trying to find a number she hadn’t contacted yet. “We were at a party, and… kind of lost track of the time.”

Seeing the fatigued scientist distracted by her device, the Greater Dog turned his gaze to Undyne for some attention, but was out of luck. Her face was downcast, yet he could make out that she was slipping out of consciousness. Without missing a beat, he pressed his paw to the button on the wall and opened the gate for the two, giving them a goofy salute while sticking his tongue out for a job well done. Undyne couldn’t help mustering the best smile she could, and she gave him a soft pat on the head before walking in before the gate shut. 

“Gotta admit, I was afraid you were going to tell him what happened tonight,” Undyne mumbled.

“No way,” Alphys quickly replied. “The last thing we need is someone else we know to go on an aimless journey to find them this late at night.”

“Well, he is a dog though,” Undyne chuckled. “Maybe he could sniff both of ‘em out with that big old snout of his.”

Alphys’ face wrinkled at her friend’s response “Wow, you really are tired, aren’t you? We better get home before you pass out on the road.”

All the former captain could do was nod and chuckle to herself, barely processing what her companion had just said. Slowly but surely, the two closed the gap between themselves and their beds. Alphys periodically shifted her attention to make sure Undyne didn’t fall over from fatigue. After another half hour, the sound of jangling keys echoed down the street as they sauntered into their home at last. Undyne immediately went for the couch and fell face first. Alphys put her phone down for a brief moment to make her roommate one of her favorite beverages. They weren’t quite done for the night yet. 

“Hey Undyne, I only have one more call to make before my body forces me to the floor,” Alphys announced from the kitchen while boiling some water for tea. “If you can stay with me for just a little bit longer, I’d appreciate it.”

A muffled yet audible groan erupted from one of the couch's pillow supporting Undyne’s head. 

“What do you need me for, Alphys?” Undyne complained. “Just call this guy and let me know what happened in the morning. Or better yet, come over here and we’ll take a nap for a bit.”

“If either one of us take a nap at this point, we’ll just ending up sleeping until morning,” replied Alphys, matter-of-factly. “Come on, it’s just  _ one _ more call. Please?”

Undyne didn’t respond, and for a moment Alphys believed she had fallen asleep. But after a long pause, the former captain gathered her strength and stood up to give Alphys a disgruntled look. A few beads of sweat formed on the scientist’s brow while her perturbed roommate made her way silently to the bathroom to wash up. 

The lights came on and Undyne looked at herself in the mirror. She almost didn’t recognize her own reflection. She could barely keep her eyelids half-open, and dark circles of stress could be seen underneath them. She turned on the right faucet and scooped a small puddle of water into her palm before letting it hit her face. Suddenly, her adrenaline kicked in from the sudden cold rush. 

_ Well, I’m awake now. Are you happy now, Alphys?  _ she thought sarcastically. 

After wiping off with a towel, she stared at herself again for a brief moment. Now that she was awake, her mind began recalling everything that had happened earlier that day, like a lucid nightmare. No matter how much Alphys tried to help, and no matter what she told her, there was one thought that she couldn’t stop echoing inside her head.

_ I could’ve saved him…  _ she repeated inside her head.  _ Damn it, Sans, why did you have to go after him?! _

She placed a trembling hand over her eyes, too ashamed to look at herself.

_ Why couldn’t I have been a hero, just once? _ she demanded.

A sudden commotion coming from the living room broke Undyne from her despair. She could hear Alphys on the other side of the door, talking breathlessly into her phone. Her mind swarmed with possible reasons why as she hurried back to the living room, finding her roommate pacing back and forth in the living room.

“What happened?! Did someone find them?!” Undyne hollered. 

Her sudden appearance made Alphys jump up in surprise. After gaining her composure, she spoke to the voice on the other end of the line and put a hand over the microphone.

“Oh… n-no, I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I just got through to Mettaton’s receptionist. She’s transferring me over to him now. He’s the last person on my list to call.”

Immediately every muscle in Undyne’s body relaxed as she facepalmed hard enough to leave a red hand print. As she returned to her prostrate position on the couch, Alphys opted to ignore her attitude while she waited for her robot superstar to pick up. She pushed her roommate’s legs off the side so she could sit and put the phone down on the coffee table with its speaker on. After a few more seconds, a vibrant voice cut through the awkward silence. 

“Alphys, darling~!” Mettaton sang. “Oh, it has been too long since I last saw your lovely face. How  _ are _ you doing?”

Even at just the mere sound of his voice, Undyne couldn’t help but wince. There was always something about his demeanor that just….irked her. Alphys did her best to ignore it.

“Hey there, Mettaton...I um, well,” she stuttered. “Things could be better, you could say.”

“Oh dear, dear,” Mettaton replied glumly. “I just  _ knew _ this would happen the moment I left you all. Everything has come apart now that I’ve left, hasn’t it?”

“W-well, you could kind of say that,” Alphys continued, getting frustrated. “That’s kind of why I called y-”

“Yes yes, of course you did, love!” interrupted Mettaton, “Hence why we’re here. But you must understand that I am a  _ very  _ busy robot nowadays. Life has been absolutely blooming with opportunities that I dare not let go by!”

“I know, Mettaton,” replied Alphys through gritted teeth. “That’s why it took forever to reach you.”

She took a moment to regain her composure. However, from the corner of her eye she could see Undyne shaking her head in disbelief with a look that said “What were you thinking?” She could feel her heart begin to sink. 

“Mettaton, please just listen for-” Alphys started. 

“I am, darling!” Mettaton cut in once again. “And yet I still have yet to hear what on Earth is going on over ther-”

“ _ Frisk ran away from home, Mettaton!”  _ Alphys screamed, jumping up from the couch. Her sudden outburst startled Undyne and snapped her out of a doze. Alphys was now shaking with a face flushed red.

“Toriel and Asgore had a fight during his birthday party today,” she explained loudly. “And after something crazy happened to him that I can’t even  _ begin  _ to describe, he ran away  _ in tears _ at night during a storm. Now Sans is out there looking for him, and we haven’t heard from either from them in hours. The king and queen are pretty much useless at this point, and I’ve been trying to find  _ someone _ out there who can help, but now it’s midnight and everyone is asleep and… and….”

The distraught scientist stopped for a few seconds to catch her breath and choke back the tears forming in her eyes. Undyne simply stared at her, too surprised to react. After a few heavy breaths, Alphys was able to finish. 

“So that’s why I called you,” she said flatly. “Because you’re my only hope at this point for any kind of help right now. And even if you can’t, I just need to know…”

An awkward silence filled the room once more as Mettaton stayed silent. The adrenaline in Alphys’ body was replaced with fatigue, and she reclaimed her spot next to Undyne. 

“Alphys, I…” Mettaton started. “I’m so sorry. I never thought it could be that serious.”

“It’s okay,” Alphys replied, relieved to hear a sincere reply. “Just...just promise me you’ll keep a look out for them tomorrow, just in case.”

“Oh, I can do  _ much  _ more than just keep an eye out, dear,” Mettaton reassured her. “You forget that I have connections around here. I can make it so there isn’t a pair of eyeballs this side of the country who isn’t keeping a watchful eye for those two.”

“Really, you would do that?” replied a startled Alphys. She wasn’t used to this kind of generosity from her robot friend. 

“Of course I would. It’s the least I can do for that young child, as well as you for how much you’ve been through.” he said happily. “I’ll be sure to give you any updates once they come my way, I promise.” 

Undyne almost couldn’t believe what she was hearing and pinched her arm just for good measure. Alphys let out a sigh of palpable relief and smiled.

“Thanks, Mettaton. We’ll talk again soon, okay?” she said.

“Certainly,” replied Mettaton. “Now go get some sleep. You’ve certainly earned it. And tell Undyne I said hello!~”

The phone’s call screen disappeared as Mettaton hung up. Alphys leaned forward to pick it up, a loud  _ click  _ sounding as she pressed the side button to lock it, and she immediately threw herself onto the arm of the couch. Her body savored a moment of relaxation after the ordeal she had been through searching for help. 

“Never in my life would I ever think I’d call Mettaton ‘my last hope,’” she chuckled to herself.

Undyne nodded, still in disbelief over the conversation she had just witnessed. She also couldn’t help but feel impressed over how Alphys had asserted herself towards her oblivious creation. 

“You must be one tired dino if you talked to Mettaton like that,” she joked. “Where was  _ that _ Alphys all this time?”

“Trapped in a laboratory, looking at 17 different vials that all contain the same stuff. Trust me, you’d be bored too,” replied Alphys, leaning up to look her roommate in the eye. They both laughed at each other’s silly remarks, the first time in what felt like forever. 

“I have to admit though,” Alphys continued. “Hanging out with you has really helped. I joke about my job, but I’m actually pretty useful around there. People like being around me for once.”

“Aw, come on, you can’t give me that much credit,” Undyne replied bashfully. 

She made her way towards the kitchen for a nice hot cup of tea, as well as grabbing some soda for Alphys. They sat next to each other silently for a while, sipping at their drinks and enjoying each other’s company. Alphys took a long pause and looked down at her phone’s blank screen before breaking the silence.

“So, do you still think he’s only a bucket of bolts?” she pondered.

“Uh...what?” Undyne stuttered, visibly confused. “I mean, Mettaton’s always been a bit weird, but… where’d that question come from?”

Silence returned as Alphys refused to respond, opting instead to attend to her phone. Undyne was about to shrug off her strange behavior as a result of sleep deprivation until she noticed a few tears forming in her friend’s eyes. 

“Alphys, what’s up?” she asked worriedly “I-I’m sorry, I just don’t know how to answer that!”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Alphys replied. “I’m just thinking of something Frisk and I talked about a few days ago.”

“You mean when we all had lunch together in the lab?” Undyne asked. 

Alphys nodded and took another large sip of her drink. She placed the bottle on the table and breathed in deeply before turning towards Undyne. 

“He… he said I should talk to you about why you don’t want to move into the integrated city.”

The former captain quickly threw her hand over her mouth to prevent her tea from marinating the floor. She mustered her strength to swallow as the color began to leave her face.

“I…” Undyne started, beads of sweat starting to form on her forehead. “Look, can we just-”

“‘Talk about this later?’” Alphys sharply interrupted. “‘Bring it up another time? Wait for you to get back from work?’”

“Okay, I think I’m starting to miss the old Alphys now,” replied Undyne, desperately trying to lighten the mood again. 

“Well, tired Alphys wants to know,” she said blunty. “Because I know that tomorrow we’re going to start looking for Frisk and Sans, and you’ll just say the same thing.”

Undyne had nowhere to run this time. The two stared at each other with neither side moving a muscle. She hoped Alphys would give up, but she could see that she was determined to know this time. Finally she gave in and finished off her tea. 

“I just…” Undyne began. “I didn’t want to talk about it cause… I don’t know, it’s pathetic.”

“Try me” Alphys replied. 

Another moment of silence came between the two, followed by another long breath from Undyne as she began to explain.

“Everyone in the Underground saw me as a hero,” she started. “I was the captain of the Royal Guard, one of the most prestigious honors anyone could receive. And if that wasn’t enough, I was also tasked with one of the most important responsibilities that anyone serving Asgore could be given: to help free our people from their imprisonment.” The former captain paused and sniffed a few times, her voice beginning to crack. “And what he needed was 7 human souls… and so that’s what I did.”

Tears rolled down her cheek, and she brought her hands up in shame once again. This time, however, Alphys was there to see what had been tormenting her for so long. 

“And in the end, it was the last human I was supposed to capture that became the hero. And now, I’m just a monster who dragged 6 innocent humans to their death.” Undyne cried into her palms. 

Alphys moved herself closer and put a comforting hand over her as her back heaved with every labored breath. 

“I just...I can’t do it, Alphys,” Undyne sobbed. “It was never a problem for me while we were in the Underground. But after coming here and constantly being around them… I just….”

Her explanation was interrupted as Alphys wrapped herself around her in a warm embrace. 

“You were just taking orders from someone you respected,” she said softly. “Even if you know it’s wrong now, you were just doing what you thought was best. And I think if Frisk were here, he’d tell you exactly what he showed me when he discovered my own mistakes with Asgore’s experiments: You don’t have to face it alone.”

Alphys looked up and smiled at Undyne as she wiped the tears from her eyes. 

“It would hurt me a lot more to know that someone I know was trying to face all that alone,” Alphys said. “Someone I care about a lot.”

As Alphys continued her loving embrace, Undyne began to feel the weight of her self-pity begin to lift, as if it were being squeezed out of her. She returned her roommate’s embrace, and the two didn’t speak for the rest of night. Instead, they smiled together knowing that even in their worst of times, they had each other. Relief washed over them both, and soon they fell into a deep, calm sleep, still wrapped in each other arms. 

* * *

The rest of the night continued peacefully, moonlight illuminating the landscape for a few more hours until its source began to sink below the horizon. Soon after, the sun’s rays could be seen radiating from behind the peak of Mt. Ebott, their golden brilliance lighting up the clear sky to start a pleasant autumn day. Anyone lucky (or perhaps crazy) enough to be awake at such a time would truly be speechless. Unfortunately, the only such person found himself missing out.

In fact, for Frisk, the night prior was anything but peaceful. The trauma from his experiences the day before had made him restless, his body tossing and turning. He wasn’t asleep for long before he had completely cocooned himself in the blankets of Asgore’s old bed. His subconscious didn’t take too kindly to the sensation of not being able to move, and soon the young child was careened off the mattress and onto the floor in a panic. Luckily the king-sized blanket provided more than enough cushioning for him.

The impact finally broke him out of his sleep and dispersed the floor’s loose dust all around him. As he kicked and punched to get the blanket unwrapped, he suddenly let out a few loud sneezes, causing his head to ache. After a minute of tired, panicked grunting, he was able to free himself from the sheet’s grasp and begin collecting his bearings. At first, the young child thought he was in Toriel’s room. His eyes were well-adjusted to the darkness, and he could faintly make out the nightstand, dresser and bed that he knew for certain wasn’t his. 

Soon his memories quickly reminded him of where he was. He glanced at the mirror but didn’t dare get too close. Instead, he let out a long sigh as he relaxed against the bed frame, trying to think of anything he could do. 

_ I guess… I could try and find some food,  _ he proposed, putting a hand to his deprived stomach.  _ Maybe there’s some canned vegetables or something in the kitchen. _

He folded the blanket into a neat square and placed it back onto the bed for no reason other than habit. Toriel had always taught him that “a clean room was a happy room,” and despite this particular one being beyond help, the task was already complete before he could talk himself out of it. After wiping the extra dust off him, he shut the door behind him with a loud  _ click _ .

Slowly his legs led him towards the kitchen, rested enough to carry him with little trouble. Yet once again, by force of habit, Frisk found himself venturing into the bathroom instead to wash his face before eating. However, before he had time to react, the motion sensor on the wall detected his presence and blasted him with fluorescent light. He immediately squinted and felt around for the sink, hoping not to trip over anything along the way. It was higher up than what he was used to, but he managed to compensate by standing on his tiptoes. 

The refreshing warm water splashed against his face about the same time his eyes were beginning to adjust. He turned the water off and reached for a towel before noticing another layer of dust that coated them. Having enough of the stuff caked on him for one day, he opted to use the sleeves of his shirt for now. He reached for the light switch to turn them off before-

_ Wait a minute,  _ he suddenly realized.  _ The lights… The lights are on!! _

Any trace amount of morning drowsiness vanished in an instant. Frisk stared at the light switch motion sensor for a while, visibly confused. There was no way he could forget the dark atmosphere of New Home the night before, and he had even tried turning on a few light to no avail. 

_ But… but how?  _ he wondered to himself.  _ How is this possible? _

He decided to check the rest of the house for any clues. As he passed by the kitchen, he noticed the timer on the microwave displaying all zeroes, as well as a faint humming coming from the refrigerator.

_ Little too late for that now,  _ he sadly mumbled. 

He whiffed the faint odor of rotten food and decided to not venture any farther. He continued to search the rest of the house, looking for any evidence that someone had been there to tamper with anything.

_ But where would it come from anyway?  _ he realized.  _ Does the castle have a generator or… _

Then it hit him. He stopped in front of the home’s entrance, pausing as his sensibilities told him to stay inside. For a moment he considered what kind of person would be down here in the first place to mess with the power. Yet he couldn’t keep his curiosity tamed for long and soon after barreled out of the house to have his suspicions immediately confirmed. 

“The Core…” He whispered to himself. 

As the young child peered into the distance, he could easily make out the mysterious structure, lit up like the integrated city on a busy night. He stood like a statue staring for a few solid minutes, both awestruck by the architecture and dumbfounded at the sight of its operation. 

_ Maybe someone came looking for me, _ he logically concluded.  _ Maybe...maybe Sans told everyone where I was and they’re looking for me there right now! _

Frisk pried his eyes away from the Core and began searching for the nearby elevator access. He backtracked for a moment to retrieve his flashlight from Asgore’s room, testing to confirm it still had some juice left.  It was in working condition, and he briskly jogged back outside, shutting each door as he went. After a few minutes of following the well-illuminated path, he found the pair of sliding doors and pressed the button to call it. Lucky for him, it appeared the elevator was still in working condition, despite making a few screeching sounds from lack of use.

One long elevator ride later, the strange yet familiar smell of ozone wafted around the anxious child as he stepped into the hallway. There was no doubt the Core was operational, yet he noticed that it was a bit warmer than usual. The elevator shut its doors slowly and he began his journey into the heart of the Underground’s power source. 

_ Oh hey,  _ he chuckled to himself.  _ This was where Mettaton fought me. _

Sure enough, the room containing the ‘stage’ Mettaton used for his final show had been left largely untouched since he last saw it. Frisk stopped in the middle and smiled as he remembered how absurd his ‘battle’ with him had been. 

_ I wonder what he’s up to now, _ he thought, exiting the room.  _ Alphys hasn’t talked about him very much recently. Didn’t he move away or- _

His train of thought was interrupted by an interesting observation. He stepped into the end of the maze that was the Core’s main reactor room, several beads of sweat forming on his brow. Normally, this labyrinth was filled with activity; the sound of steam being created from the cooling of the Core, metal clashing against metal to generate energy. But instead, everything was quiet; yet despite it being so still, there was still electricity flowing throughout the facility. 

_ Okay, now this  _ really _ doesn’t make any sense _ , he mused. 

Before he could attempt to solve the mystery, another strange sound stopped him dead in his tracks. From the distance, towards the main entrance of the facility, he could have sworn he heard a voice. 

“Hello?!” he shouted. 

He quickly threw his hand over his mouth, only a moment too late to stop himself. His heart sank into his stomach as he heard the distant voice suddenly cut off, only to have another one cut in.

* You idiot… What if they aren’t friendly?

Frisk didn’t even have the time to react to the sinister voice in his head. His instincts kicked in and he began running frantically through the Core’s labyrinth, desperately trying to find a hiding place. He ran in circles for what felt like an hour before finally finding the hallway that led towards the front rooms of the Core. His fatigue started to catch up with him, causing him to lose his sense of direction, and he came to a dead end. The room was illuminated enough to see the floor, but he couldn’t quite make out everything on the walls.

“Did… did I lose them?” he quietly panted to himself. 

Everything fell silent, and the room was significantly cooler than the Core, providing some comfort as his body’s adrenaline began to wear off. However, it lasted for only a few minutes before Frisk could sense someone approaching him. 

“Who are you?!” he shouted. “Please, I’m trapped down here and-”

Suddenly his vision was obscured by a red glow coming from his chest. As the presence drew closer, Frisk’s soul came into complete view. 

“ _ I just want to go home!”  _ he screamed.

Overcome with fear, he couldn’t even look up to face his attacker head on. He threw himself onto the cold metal floor and curled up into a fetal position, waiting for any kind of attack while shaking uncontrollably. 

A few minutes passed in complete silence. His body calmed down enough for him to glance up, only to be greeted by the barrel of a revolver. As he jumped back in shock, the voice of a young girl came from the room’s entrance.

“ _ Wait!” _ the unfamiliar voice pleaded. 

As the panicked child instinctively backed up from the danger in front of him, his mind caught up with his body movements and he let out an audible gasp. While standing up and peering behind the weapon, he took notice of its wielder. She was a young girl who looked to be a few years older than him. She had tanned white skin and was dressed from head to toe in a Wild West cowboy (or rather, cowgirl) outfit. Her long, light brunette hair flowed out from her hat, and her freckled face stared at him with frustration.

“What in the world are you doin’ here, stupid?” she berated with a thick Southern accent. 

However, it wasn’t her odd outfit that shocked him. Looking carefully, he noticed that her entire body seemed to be semitransparent. Her weapon had the same property, and he could see through it just enough to notice the unmistakable yellow glow of her soul, hovering in front of her chest, just like his. 

“Justine,  _ stop! _ That’s enough!” came the other girl’s voice from the entrance again. 

Frisk turned his direction slightly to the side and let out another audible gasp. The second girl also had a Southern accent, but physically she was quite different. While her body was also semi-transparent, she was noticeably more heavy set. Her skin was much darker while her hair was about the same color and much shorter than her cowgirl companion. Instead of a weapon, she was wearing a stained apron wrapped around her shirt and shorts. As she came between him and Justine, her soul of green came into view and added to the strange mix of colors now filling the room.

“How many times do I have to tell you that you’ll never get answers from anyone if you threaten them right off the bat?” the green soul-bearer berated. 

Justine kept her gun pointed at Frisk for a few silent moments before finally lowering it with a scoff. 

“Well then, maybe  _ you’d  _ like to tell me what this kid’s doin’ down here!” she replied. 

Frisk noticed they were distracted and took the opportunity, stepping to the side to prevent getting put back into Justine’s line of sight. He kept his eyes locked on the two, still not sure if he believed what he was seeing. 

“Don’t you recognize him?” the heavyset girl asked her friend. 

Frisk winced as Justine noticed he had slipped out of her view. Immediately she stopped him and brought her revolver back up, much to her companion’s dismay. This time, however, she got closer to him to get a better look. After scanning him up and down for a few awkward moments, she holstered her gun and shook her head. 

“I don’ believe it,” she sighed. “You’re the kid who freed everyone, aren’tchya?” 

The young savior nodded nervously, now certain he wasn’t dreaming. Justine put a hand to her head in frustration while her companion walked slowly over to them and cleared her throat. 

“I’m really sorry for the… abrasiveness of my friend here,” she said to Frisk. “I guess we’ve never really met officially, have we? She’s Justine, and my name is Charity.” 

Frisk introduced himself to the two of them and instinctively reached his hand out to greet them. Justine immediately let out a hearty laugh while Charity rubbed the back of her head in slight embarrassment. 

“Yeah, that’s...not gonna work,” she said sheepishly. “We don’t exactly have a body to work with.”

“So, then...you guys are like holograms or something?” Frisk asked, lowering his hand to the side. 

“What in the Sam Hill is that?” Justine responded. “If that’s what you guys call those photographs nowadays, then yeah, I suppose you could call us that.”

Charity simply shrugged at the question, unsure what he was talking about. Frisk soon realized that if these two were in fact the same humans who he believed them to be, then they must have fallen down a very long time ago. 

“What...what are you two doing here?” he questioned. 

“We were about to ask you the same thing,” Charity replied. 

He paused for a moment, thinking long and hard about his answer. Even the faintest recollection of the last few days made him uneasy, and with the mysterious voice speaking to him yet again, he didn’t want to take any chances. 

“I…” he nervously stammered. “I guess I was wandering around, and I got lost w-when…”

Charity and Justine looked at each other in disbelief and stopped the poor liar before he could go further. 

“No one ‘ _ just falls’ _ down here, kiddo,” Justine interrupted, placing a hand on her hip. “Trust us, we would know that. If you don’t wanna talk ‘bout it, then we won’t pester ya. But don’t try and pull one on us either, m’kay?”

“It’s fine, Justine,” Charity cut in before turning her attention back to Frisk. “You came through the king’s castle, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I stayed there for the night,” he answered. 

The young cook put her hand up to her chin and turned away, deep in thought. She wandered around the room with Justine following behind, wondering what had intrigued her. Suddenly, the young cook stopped and turned towards her companion.

“Of course!” she exclaimed. “That explains why the Core restarted!”

“Wait, what?” replied a confused and slightly startled Justine. “You mean this kid- sorry, Frisk restarted the Core? How the heck could he do that when he was snoozin’ in the castle?”

“I remember… just before they took me to the throne room,” Charity explained to them, “I overheard a bunch of monsters who were talking about renovations in the castle. They had just built the Core and were starting to run power throughout the Underground. Apparently, whoever designed it wanted to make it as efficient as possible, so when nothing was being used for long periods of time, the reactor would shut down until some kind of activity was detected. Frisk must have used something in the castle that turned it back on.”

“But when I was looking around, it didn’t seem like anything was running,” Frisk pointed out. 

“That’s cause it overheated,” Justine explained. “When Charity and I noticed the Core had started firin’ again, we came over as fast as we could. But by the time we got here, the thing already had shut down ‘cause no one was sending ice over anymore. But I did see a screen talkin’ about reserve power or somethin’”

“That’s right, which is why everything has electricity again,” Charity concluded.

The young cook had a wide grin on her face, clearly pleased having solved the mystery. Even Justine gave her an impressed thumbs up. 

_ So that’s why it’s really quiet and hot in here, too, _ Frisk deduced.  _ If everything is running on reserve power, then… _

“How long will it last?” he wondered out loud. 

“I’m… I’m not sure, actually,” Charity sadly answered. “I mean, it’s not like there’s anybody else using anything down here. If I had to guess though, I would say maybe a few more hours before it completely runs out.”

The lost child frowned at her answer, now beginning to panic over how little time he had. 

“What’re you all worked up over, kiddo?” Justine pondered. “Ya’ll just gotta go back from where ya came, right?”

Frisk shook his head. “After I came here, there was a landslide at the exit. I was kind of hoping you two were, like, underground explorers or something who knew another way out.”

Charity gasped in horror over the news, while Justine grimaced and shook her head silently. 

“Well then, guess that’s outta the question,” Justine muttered. “About the only thing we could do is phase through those rocks and get someone’s attention. And frankly, it’d probably be better if we didn’t do that.”

“Why not?” Frisk questioned without thinking. “If you guys could leave this whole time, why stay here? It’s so dark and lonely.”

“Oh common kid, think,” Justine snapped. “How many monsters exactly are running around up there after you freed them? Have you spent so much time bein’ buddies and roaming free together that you forgot what they can do to us?”

“Justine!” Charity scolded. 

The irate cowgirl stared at Frisk with frustration before turning away from them both, deeply hurt that the young child had begun to forget everything that had happened to the humans that came before him.

“So, you’re stuck down here, just like me,” Frisk confirmed. 

“Yes, yes we are,” Charity cooly replied. “Once the monsters discovered the Barrier was gone, we went into hiding, in case one of them decided they wanted to… take us with them.”

“They already tried twice, and look how that turned out,” Justine sarcastically remarked. 

Her comment brought an awkward silence between the three, and Frisk couldn’t help but feel sorry for them. He wanted to say something that could comfort them, even though he knew his part in freeing monsterkind had led to them being trapped. 

Before he could think of anything to say, a low, growling sound came from his stomach once again. 

“Oh no!” Charity exclaimed in dismay. “You probably haven’t had anything to eat since you’ve gotten here, have you?” 

Frisk nodded as he held his abdomen. He explained to the two how all the food that he had come across so far had been spoiled due to the power being out for so long. Charity looked at him pitifully, unsure of what she could do to help. Justine, however, snapped her fingers and gave them both a smirk. 

“I’m got an idea. Both of ya, follow me.” she said. 

The three youngsters quickly made their way out of the storage room towards the entrance to the Core. Frisk noticed as his two phantasmal companions moved faster, their images seemed to become distorted the farther they were from the their souls, much like a hologram he had compared them two. Before he could inquire about it any further, a sudden blast of cool air washed over him as they exited the Core’s facility and found themselves on a familiar bridge. 

“That may be your only chance,” Justine said, pointing her finger across. 

The three tilted their heads up as Mettaton’s MTT Resort stood before them, lit up and beaming much like the personality of its owner. Many of the rooms were dark, whether due to vacancy or the lights burning out after so long. However, as they passed through the glass doors the three could see that the lobby still indeed had power, along with cobwebs in the corners and a funny smell coming from the center. 

“This place always gave me the creeps,” Justine mumbled, observing the cobwebbed corners with disgust. “It just always felt a little bit too… cultish, you know what I mean?” 

“I think he just has a big ego,” Frisk chuckled.

“I dunno, I kind of agree,” Charity admitted. “Reminds me of some weird stuff I’ve seen back at home. I mean, just look at this thing… ”

They came up to Mettaton’s fountain in the middle of the room, spurting water onto the floor. The extra water had seeped into the carpet and stagnated over the months, causing Frisk to plug his nose as he drew near. He had to admit that the fountain itself was pretty hideous, even for Mettaton’s tastes. 

“Anyway, creepy decor aside, I think we’re close,” Justine said. 

They backtracked a bit and walked up to the serving stand for the in-house restaurant where Burgerpants used to work. The menu listings were faded with some of the corners peeling off, yet they were still legible. After reading them over, Frisk chuckled to himself as he realized that the same menu was being used by Mettaton in his restaurants on the surface. 

Justine and Charity floated behind the counter and disappeared behind the wall towards the back storage area while Frisk climbed over the counter to follow. As he caught up with them, he was greeted with several shelving units stocked with cans of food ranging from vegetables to meats. There was also a walk-in freezer with a large puddle of water on the floor in front of it. 

“Needless to say, anything in that there icebox is a lost cause,” Justine pointed out. “But all this stuff in here should be okay, right, Charity?” 

“Yeah, for sure,” Charity confirmed. “There’s probably enough preservatives in this stuff to keep it good for a really long time. Just make sure none of the cans are bulging or were opened before you dig in, Frisk.”

The starving child barely registered her warning as he anxiously looked over his choices. 

“How is there so much food still down here?” Frisk asked.

“Well, after the Barrier was destroyed, I don’t think processed, canned chow was on everyone’s mind at the time, kiddo,” Justine laughed. 

Eventually his stomach was so restless that the young child grabbed the first cans he saw that didn’t look opened and piled them onto the serving counter. While he was choosing, Justine pointed out a can opener hiding on a shelf underneath the counter which he quickly grabbed. After quickly tearing off the lid of a vegetable can, Charity helped him find a frying pan as a makeshift plate and some plastic utensils. They eventually found everything in the back near the sink and gave the pan a quick rinse just to be safe. 

Soon after, the contents of the first can - which turned out to be peas - were poured out, not looking very appetizing compared to fresh peas. 

“Hey, I never said it would be gourmet,” joked Justine. 

Luckily it was a hurdle that Frisk soon got over, and the three stood in silence as his hunger was finally satiated. As he went through the cans on the counter, Justine and Charity moved away to talk amongst themselves while occasionally looking over and giggling on how quickly their guest was eating. 

“Don’t bother cleaning up the cans,” remarked Charity. “No one’s gonna be around to see it anyway.”

The stuffed child couldn’t argue with her logic, though he did push them aside as he climbed back over the counter and took a seat in the lobby to relax. 

“So, I guess you’re gonna head out soon, huh?” Justine asked, relaxing in mid-air next to him. 

Frisk nodded. “You guys said the power is only going to last for another few hours, right?”

“That’s what we think, yes,” Charity confirmed. “But with the Underground abandoned, who knows? It could last for a day or two. So there’s not much of a rush…”

Frisk leaned his head back and stared up at the ceiling, thinking hard about what he should do. He certainly had enough energy to get through the Underground by the day’s end. But there were still so many more questions that he had for his two new companions. Something inside him wanted to help them in any way he could, even though he knew that nothing would keep them from the danger presented by the monsters now roaming the surface. As he sat longer and longer, he began thinking about all his friends and family, and his heart began to yearn for home. Yet the more he thought of them, the colder he began to feel as an unwelcome voice rudely interrupted once more.

* There’s nothing more you can do for these two… they’re a lost cause. Just like your friends back home.

The young child immediately snapped out of his trance and began panicking. Justine and Charity looked at each other in confusion, unsure of what happened. 

“You alright, kiddo?” Justine nervously inquired. 

“I...I’ll be fine,” Frisk lied, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow. For a moment he was thankful the two of them weren’t able to hear the voice. “I really should get going, though. My friends are probably worried sick about me.”

“The same friends who let you get ‘lost’ down here again?” Justine said coyly.

“Knock it off, will you Justine?” demanded Charity. “He’s already told us he doesn’t want to talk about it, and that’s that. I wouldn’t want to stay down here any longer, would you?”

The cowgirl didn’t give an answer, and instead looked away with a pout, thinking her friend would back her up. Frisk tried to cool them off. 

“What are you two going to do?” he asked. 

The spectral duo softened the looks at each other, and crossed their arms as they thought long and hard about their answer.

“I mean…” Charity started glumly. “Human souls are able to persist for a long time outside the body. As long as we stay away from any monster and any danger, we should be alright. But it won’t last us forever, so after a while… ”

She closed her eyes, unable to finish her answer. There were no words she could find to describe the fate of two wandering human souls, nor were there any for Frisk as his heart writhed in pity for the two. Charity looked at him with a forced smile and continued.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about us,” she said. “You’ve done everything you can, and… we appreciate it. You helped us get away from being used for some deranged master plan, and now it’s our turn to help you get back home.” 

Justine didn’t respond, but Frisk could tell from her look that she agreed with her friend. The three smiled at each other for a while before giving their goodbyes and good lucks, and Frisk looked back at them one last time before stepping through the entrance to the hotel and beginning his journey back home.

“Well… that was unexpected,” said Charity, trying to lighten up the mood. 

“I don’ buy it. Not for one second,” Justine mumbled. 

“You mean his explanation for coming back?” Charity asked. 

Justine nodded, still staring at the front entrance as the doors closed. “I don’ care how vague and innocent he tries to make it. Nobody  _ just falls down here _ .”

“So what are you thinking?” inquired Charity, 

The two remained silent for a moment. Frisk’s head disappeared from the clear entrance door as he walked down the stairs. 

“We could follow him,” suggested Charity. “Hide away like we did before and see what happens to him.”

Justine let out a hearty chuckle at her friend’s plan. “And since when were  _ you _ the sneaky type, huh?” 

“Well, let’s just say I’m as curious as you are,” Charity responded, rolling her eyes. “Besides, I can’t ignore the fact that there was something definitely...off about him. He isn’t the same kid we knew when he saved us, that’s for sure.”

Justine smiled and nodded, and the duo’s translucent images disappeared, leaving only their glowing souls. After giving their guest a few minutes head start, they wandered out of the hotel and followed behind him as he traveled through Hotland once more. 


End file.
